Visa net profit surges on higher payment volumes

Visa, the world's largest payments company, on Tuesday reported a 17 percent 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 percent on a quarterly basis. Revenue rose 11 percent 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 percent increase over the same period in 2022. However, it was 4.5 percent 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 percent over the past year and rose 1.2 percent to $232.40 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

The company’s earnings per share rose 20 percent 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 percent year-on-year, while cross-border transactions increased by 24 percent 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 percent on a yearly basis to more than $5.3 billion, while operating expenses increased 11 percent annually to more than $2.6 billion. Visa did not issue earnings guidance for the current and future quarters.