Visa net profit surges on higher payment volumes

Company's net profit jumped to $4.3 billion in January-March period

Visa's second-quarter revenue rose 11 per cent on a yearly basis to $8 billion. AP

Visa, the world's largest payments company, on Tuesday reported a 17 per cent annual increase in its 2023 fiscal second-quarter net profit, driven by a surge in payment volumes, cross-border transactions and processed transactions.

The net profit of the California-headquartered company jumped to $4.3 billion in the three months to the end of March, increasing almost 2.4 per cent on a quarterly basis.

Revenue rose 11 per cent on a yearly basis to $8 billion, the company said in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company said it had recorded 50.1 billion processed transactions in the last quarter, a 12 per cent increase over the same period in 2022. However, it was 4.5 per cent down on a quarterly basis.

“Visa's strong fiscal second quarter performance reflects continued focus on our growth levers … consumer payments, new flows and value added services,” said Ryan McInerney, Visa’s chief executive.

“We have a compelling strategy, a world-class team, fantastic clients and an incredible set of capabilities that I believe are second to none.

“While there is macroeconomic uncertainty, I feel confident in Visa’s ability to manage through changing environments.”

Shares of the company increased more than 14 per cent over the past year and rose 1.2 per cent to $232.40 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

The company’s earnings per share rose 20 per cent to almost $2.03 in the second quarter.

In the last quarter, Visa said it had repurchased 10 million shares at an average cost of $222.09 per share for $2.2 billion. The company said it had $11.8 billion of remaining authorised funds for share repurchase as of March 31.

This week, the company also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.45 per share payable on June 1 to all holders of record as of May 12 this year.

Visa's total payments volume in the second quarter surged 10 per cent year-on-year, while cross-border transactions increased by 24 per cent on an annual basis.

The company did not disclose the exact value of transactions.

The company’s cash, cash equivalents and investment securities stood at $19.4 billion at the end of last quarter

The company’s operating income in the second quarter rose 11.1 per cent on a yearly basis to more than $5.3 billion, while operating expenses increased 11 per cent annually to more than $2.6 billion.

Visa did not issue earnings guidance for the current and future quarters.