MA MasterCard Incorporated

By Allison Prang 

Mastercard Inc.'s profit rose in the fourth quarter along with revenue despite the credit-card company setting aside $757 million for litigation costs.

Operating expenses rose 44% to $2.57 billion in the quarter, including a $757 million litigation provision.

Mastercard said the provision was tied to a fine from the European Commission of $654 million and settlements with merchants in Europe of $103 million. In early December, both Mastercard and competitor Visa Inc. agreed to lower fees placed on merchants for accepting cards not issued in the region, European Union regulators said.

The company said net revenue rose 15% to $3.81 billion in the latest quarter. Analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting $3.8 billion in revenue.

The credit-card company's gross dollar volume -- or the value of card transactions -- increased 9.4% to $1.55 trillion.

Profit nearly quadrupled to $899 million, compared with $227 million a year earlier. Earnings were 87 cents a share, up from 21 cents a share. Analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting earnings of $1.47 a share.

Mastercard's profit was driven higher by a $941 million drop in income tax expenses from the comparable quarter a year ago.

The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.61 billion, up 33%. Adjusted earnings were $1.55 a share, up from $1.14 a share. Analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting adjusted earnings of $1.52 a share.

On Wednesday, Visa reported earnings for its fiscal first quarter and said it had $5.51 billion in net revenue and a profit of $1.30 a share.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 31, 2019 09:16 ET (14:16 GMT)

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