Visa quarterly profit rises 11%

Visa, the world's largest payments network operator, reported an 11 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, driven by its purchase of Visa Europe and as more people made payments using its network.

Net income rose to $2.14 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $1.93 billion a year ago. Earnings per Class A share rose to 90 cents from 79 cents a year earlier.

"Visa ended our fiscal year as we began, with strong growth across payments volume, cross-border volume and processed transactions, which was bolstered by the addition of Visa Europe," Chief Executive Alfred Kelly Jr. said.

Visa's shares were up 1.4 percent in premarket trading.

The company's total operating revenue jumped 14 percent to $4.86 billion, reflecting growth in payments volume and processed transactions.

Payments volume rose 9.8 percent to $1.93 trillion on a constant dollar basis, with the United States accounting for about 43 percent of the total.

Cross-border volumes – the value of transactions made outside of the United States – increased 10 percent, on constant dollar basis.

Total operating expenses rose marginally to $1.64 billion.

Visa's rival, MasterCard reports financial results next week.

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Savio D'Souza)