MA MasterCard Incorporated

By Chelsey Dulaney 

Payment-card network MasterCard Inc. on Friday reported an 11% increase in fourth-quarter profit, though its revenue was below Wall Street forecasts as rebates and incentives again ate into growth.

Shares fell 0.4% to $83.11 a share in premarket trading.

The Purchase, N.Y.-based company's results recently have been pressured across the world from a strong U.S. dollar, particularly when compared with the euro and the Brazilian real. Slower growth in emerging markets and worsening economic conditions in Venezuela have also impacted results.

"Entering 2016, while uncertainty in the global economy persists, the fundamentals of our business and our approach remain unchange," said Chief Executive Ajay Banga in a news release.

For the period ended Dec. 31, the company posted earnings of $890 million, or 79 cents a share, compared with $801 million, or 69 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue grew 4.4% to $2.52 billion, or 9% excluding currency impacts. Analysts had projected 69 cents a share in profit and $2.55 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

The company said that while an increase in rebates and incentives ate into revenue, acquisitions added 2 percentage points to revenue growth.

Like rival Visa Inc. , MasterCard processes electronic payments on its network, but doesn't collect interest or set interest rates.

In the latest quarter, purchase volume grew 12%, on a constant-currency basis, to $883 billion. Both processed transactions and cross-border volumes grew 12%.

Gross dollar volume grew 12%, in terms of local currency, to $1.2 trillion.

On Thursday, Visa reported a 24% increase in profit as the company posted increases in payments volume and processed transactions.

But the company warned that the uneven global economy and the effects of the stronger U.S. dollar could weigh on its results for the year.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 29, 2016 09:03 ET (14:03 GMT)

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