MasterCard posts 21 percent rise in profit, shares rise

(Reuters) - MasterCard Inc reported a better-than-expected 21 percent rise in quarterly profit as more people used cards to make payments, sending its shares up 3 percent before the bell.

The world's second-largest payment network's net income rose to $848 million, or $6.96 per share, in the second quarter, from $700 million, or $5.55 per share, a year earlier.

Net revenue rose 15 percent to $2.10 billion.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of $6.30 per share on revenue of $2.00 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"We had a very good second quarter supported by increases in volume and transactions in all regions of the world despite slow economic growth globally," Chief Executive Ajay Banga said in a statement on Wednesday.

Annual growth in MasterCard's U.S. purchase volumes rose 7 percent from a year earlier.

Worldwide purchase volume increased 12 percent on a local currency basis to $734 billion.

MasterCard shares closed at $601.42 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. They have risen about 22 percent since the beginning of the year.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mastercard-posts-21-percent-rise-profit-121038438.html

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