MA MasterCard Incorporated

By Allison Prang 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (July 27, 2018).

Mastercard Inc. reported an increase in profit in its latest quarter as the value of card transactions rose by about 15%, with Europe outperforming compared with other markets.

The company set aside $225 million during the quarter for litigation costs with merchants in the U.S. and the U.K. Mastercard said $210 million of the money it set aside was for U.S. merchants.

The Wall Street Journal reported late last month that both Mastercard and its competitor, Visa Inc., were near settling a lawsuit from merchants related to credit-card fees. A group of credit-card companies -- including Mastercard and Visa -- would pay around $6.5 billion to merchants.

The credit-card company's profit rose 33% to $1.57 billion, or $1.50 a share, compared with $1.18 billion, or $1.10 a share a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Mastercard reported earnings of $1.66 a share, beating estimates from analysts polled by FactSet of $1.53 a share.

Net revenue rose 20% to $3.67 billion. Expenses rose 24% to $1.73 billion.

Gross-dollar volume for the company's credit, charge and debit programs rose 15.3% world-wide to $1.48 trillion, beating analysts' expectations of $1.46 trillion. It rose the most in Europe, increasing 21.6%.

Shares, up 41% year to date, fell 2.5% premarket.

Write to Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 27, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.