(Reuters) - Visa Inc reported a 14.3 percent jump in quarterly profit on Wednesday as a tightening labour market and growth in wages spurred consumer spending, leading to more people swiping their credit- and debit-cards using the company's extensive network.
U.S. retail sales rose to their highest in one and half years in March, with almost all sectors including autos, electronics, appliances, and food and beverage registering growth.
That benefited Visa, which makes most of its money from card swiping fees and processing transactions, as total transactions volume in its largest market, the United States, rose 6.9 percent to $1.07 trillion (827.7 billion pounds), on a constant-currency basis.
Its net revenue rose 8 percent to $5.49 billion, beating analysts' estimates of $5.47 billion, led by a 7 percent jump in its service revenue, which includes fees the company gets from processing transactions.
Visa's net income rose http://bit.ly/2vjPv0v to $2.98 billion, or $1.31 per Class A share, in the second quarter ended March 31, from $2.61 billion, or $1.11 per Class A share, a year earlier.
Analysts were expecting net income of $1.24 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv, although it was not immediately clear if the numbers were comparable.
(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
