MasterCard 4Q Profit Rises 11.1%

MasterCard, the operator of the world's second-largest payments network, reported an 11.1 percent rise in quarterly profit as purchase volumes increased.

The company's net income rose to $890 million, or 79 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 from $801 million, or 69 cents per share, a year earlier.

Acquisitions had a dilutive impact of 3 cents per diluted share on earnings, the company said.

Analysts on average estimated earnings of 79 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net revenue rose 4 percent to $2.52 billion.

MasterCard's gross dollar volume - the total value of transactions made by its customers - rose 12 percent to $1.2 trillion on a local currency basis.

Cross-border volumes - the value of transactions made by customers outside the card-issuer's country - also rose 12 percent.

MasterCard's shares were up 1.2 percent at $84.40 in premarket trading on Friday.

Up to Thursday's close, the stock had lost about 3 percent since the beginning of the year, underperforming rival Visa Inc's 5.8 percent gain.

(Reporting By Sudarshan Varadhan and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)