The first-quarter diluted earnings per share stood at $5.36, up by 25% from $4.29 per diluted share during the first quarter of 2011.
MasterCard president and chief executive officer Ajay Banga said that the company had a good start to the year with solid first quarter results driven by an increase in processed transactions, the highest quarterly growth rate since our IPO, as well as positive volume growth in all regions as consumers continue to adopt electronic payments.
"We are leveraging opportunities around the world. In the U.S., we have significantly improved our position in debit and now have the capability to process transactions on about half of all U.S. debit cards. Outside of the U.S., the acquisitions of DataCash and Access Prepaid Worldwide are delivering growth, both showing roughly 25% operational increases," Banga said.
The firm reported net revenue of $1.8bn, with an increase of 17% from the net revenue of $1.5bn during the corresponding quarter a year ago.
The growth in revenue was boosted by 18% rise in cross-border volumes, an 18% increase in gross dollar volume on a local currency basis, to $849bn, and growth in processed transactions of 29% to 7.7bn, said the firm.
First-quarter of 2012 gross dollar volume increased by 18% and purchase volume was up by 17% compared to the gross dollar volume of 12.8% and purchase volume of 12.9% during the same period last year.
The firm’s worldwide purchase volume rose by 17% to $629bn on a local currency basis compared to a worldwide purchase volume of $545bn during the first quarter prior year.
Total operating expenses increased by 14% to $758m during the first quarter of 2012 compared to total operating expenses of $665m during the same period in 2011.
