Visa Inc. Posts Strong Fiscal Third Quarter 2012 Earnings Results and Authorizes New $1 Billion Share Repurchase Program

Published on Wednesday, 25 July 2012 16:26 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

Quarter Impacted by Strategic Review Costs and Accelerated Compensation due to the Passing of a Company Director

SAN FRANCISCO, July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) today announced financial results for the Company's fiscal third quarter 2012 ended June 30, 2012. On a GAAP basis, the Company reported a net loss of $1.8 billion, inclusive of a litigation provision of $4.1 billion, related to the previously announced settlement agreement in the Multi-District Litigation case. Visa's share will be paid from the previously funded litigation escrow account established pursuant to the Company's Retrospective Responsibility Plan.

Excluding the litigation provision of $4.1 billion and related tax benefit, adjusted net income for the quarter was $1.1 billion, or $1.56 per diluted class A common share, an increase of 25% over the prior year on an adjusted basis. The adjusted weighted-average number of diluted class A common shares outstanding during the third quarter was 675 million. The Company's adjusted quarterly net income per share of class A common stock is a non-GAAP financial measure that is reconciled to its most directly comparable GAAP measure in the accompanying financial tables.

GAAP net operating revenue in the fiscal third quarter of 2012 was $2.6 billion, an increase of 10% over the prior year and driven by strong double-digit growth in service revenues, data processing revenues and international transaction revenues. There was no significant impact on current quarter results related to the strengthening or weakening of the U.S. dollar over the prior year.

"Visa once again reported solid global growth in payments volume, cross border transactions and processed transactions outside the U.S., executing on our strategy of growing the electronification of payments worldwide. We are pleased that we were able to come to a resolution in the merchant litigation which was acceptable to most parties while ensuring the long-term health of the U.S. payments industry," said Joseph Saunders, chairman and chief executive officer of Visa Inc. "As we look forward, we remain focused on launching new payment solutions and products for our financial and merchant partners and consumers, while supporting the Visa brand and the advancement of electronic payments."

Fiscal Third Quarter 2012 Financial Highlights:

Payments volume growth, on a constant dollar basis, for the three months ended March 31, 2012, on which fiscal third quarter service revenue is recognized, was a positive 11% over the prior year at $958 billion.

Payments volume growth, on a constant dollar basis, for the three months ended June 30, 2012, was a positive 6% over the prior year at $979 billion.

Cross-border volume growth, on a constant dollar basis, was a positive 14% for the three months ended June 30, 2012.

Total processed transactions, which represent transactions processed by VisaNet, for the three months ended June 30, 2012, were 13.1 billion, a positive 1% increase over the prior year.

Fiscal third quarter 2012 service revenues were $1.2 billion, an increase of 15% versus the prior year, and are recognized based on payments volume in the prior quarter. All other revenue categories are recognized based on current quarter activity. Data processing revenues rose 17% over the prior year to $1.0 billion. International transaction revenues, which are driven by cross-border activity, grew 13% over the prior year to $748 million. Other revenues, which include the Visa Europe licensing fee, were $175 million, a 7% increase over the prior year. Client incentives, which are a contra revenue item, were $614 million and represent 19% of gross revenues.

The Company recorded a $4.1 billion pre-tax provision, or $2.9 billion on an after-tax basis, in the fiscal third quarter of 2012. This represents the Company's financial portion in the settlement of the Multi-District Litigation case.

Excluding the litigation provision, total operating expenses increased 10% to $1.1 billion during the fiscal third quarter, primarily due to higher personnel expense and professional fees associated with investments in technology projects to support our growth initiatives.

Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and available-for-sale investment securities were $9.4 billion at June 30, 2012.

Excluding the litigation provision and the related tax benefit, the Company's adjusted effective tax rate was 29.2% for the quarter ended June 30, 2012. The Company's adjusted effective tax rate is a non-GAAP financial measure that is reconciled to its most directly comparable GAAP measure in the accompanying financial tables.

Notable Events:

During the three months ended June 30, 2012, the Company repurchased approximately 4.0 million class A common shares, at an average price of $115.51 per share, for a total cost of $461 million.

As announced on July 13, 2012, the Company, MasterCard and U.S. financial institution defendants signed a memorandum of understanding to enter into a settlement agreement to resolve the Class Plaintiffs' claims in the Multi-District Litigation case, and announced an agreement in principle to settle with the individual plaintiffs whose claims were consolidated into the case for pre-trial purposes. The proposed settlement payments for both the Class and individual claims would be approximately $6.6 billion, of which Visa's share would represent approximately $4.4 billion. Visa's share will be paid from the litigation escrow account established pursuant to the Company's Retrospective Responsibility Plan.

As announced on July 19, 2012, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend in the aggregate amount of $0.22 per share of class A common stock (determined in the case of class B and class C common stock on an as-converted basis) payable on September 4, 2012, to all holders of record of the Company's class A, class B and class C common stock as of August 17, 2012.

The Company's Board of Directors has authorized a new $1 billion class A share repurchase program. The authorization will be in place through July 2013, and is subject to further change at the discretion of the Board.

On July 24, 2012, the Company deposited $150 million into the litigation escrow account previously established under its Retrospective Responsibility Plan. Under the terms of the plan, when the Company funds the litigation escrow account, the value of the Company's class B shares – which are held by U.S. financial institutions and their affiliates and successors – is correspondingly adjusted via a reduction in the class B shareholders' as-converted share count. The $150 million deposit by the Company reduced the number of common shares outstanding on an as-converted basis from 104,452,843 to 103,257,583. The funding calculations were conducted in accordance with the Company's certificate of incorporation using the volume-weighted average price over the 3-day pricing period from July 19, 2012, through July 23, 2012. As a result of the deposit, the conversion rate applicable to the Company's class B common stock has decreased from 0.4254 to 0.4206 as of July 24, 2012.

Financial Outlook:

Visa Inc. updates its financial outlook for the following metric through 2012:

• Adjusted annual diluted class A common stock earnings per share growth in the low twenties.*

Visa Inc. affirms its financial outlook for the following metrics for 2012:

• Annual net revenue growth in the low double digits;
• Client incentives as a percent of gross revenues: 17% to 18% range;
• Marketing expenses: Under $1 billion;
• Adjusted annual operating margin of about 60%*;
• Adjusted tax rate: 33% to 34% range*;
• Capital expenditures $350 million to $400 million range; and
• Annual free cash flow greater than $4 billion.

*Financial Outlook excludes (i) the impact of the litigation provision and related tax benefit recorded in Q3 2012; and (ii) a non-cash benefit related to the remeasurement of deferred tax liabilities recorded in the tax provision during Q2 2012. These deferred tax liabilities are primarily associated with indefinite-lived intangible assets recorded as part of Visa's October 2007 reorganization. Including the net impact of the litigation provision and remeasurement of deferred tax liabilities, the annual GAAP tax rate is expected to be between 30 – 31%.

Fiscal Third Quarter 2012 Earnings Results Conference Call Details:

Visa's executive management team will host a live audio webcast beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (2:00 p.m. Pacific Time) today to discuss the financial results and business highlights. All interested parties are invited to listen to the live webcast at http://investor.visa.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on the Visa Investor Relations website for 30 days. Investor information, including supplemental financial information, is available on Visa Inc.'s Investor Relations website at http://investor.visa.com.

About Visa

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

Forward Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by the terms "continue," "could," "may," "subject to," and similar references to the future. Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements we make about the settlement of the multi-district interchange litigation and about our revenue, earnings per share, incentive payments, expenses, operating margin, tax rate, capital expenditures and free cash flow and the growth of those items.

By their nature, forward-looking statements: (i) speak only as of the date they are made, (ii) are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees of future performance and (iii) are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict or quantify. Therefore, actual results could differ materially and adversely from those forward-looking statements because of a variety of factors, including the following:

• the impact of new laws, regulations and marketplace barriers, including:
  • rules capping debit interchange reimbursement fees promulgated under the U.S. Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or the Reform Act;
  • rules under the Reform Act expanding issuers' and merchants' choice among debit payment networks;
  • U.S. government and other parties' reactions to the changes we have made to our business in response to the Reform Act;
  • increased regulation outside the United States and in other product categories; and
  • rules about consumer privacy and data use and security;
• developments in current or future litigation or government enforcement, including interchange, antitrust and tax disputes, and also including our failure to satisfy the conditions necessary to make the multi-district litigation settlements effective;
• economic factors, such as:
  • an increase or spread of the current European crisis involving sovereign debt and the euro;
  • other global economic, political and health conditions;
  • cross-border activity and currency exchange rates; and
  • material changes in our clients' performance compared to our estimates;
• industry developments, such as competitive pressure, rapid technological developments, and disintermediation from the payments value stream;
• system developments, such as:
  • disruption of our transaction processing systems or the inability to process transactions efficiently;
  • account data breaches or increased fraudulent or other illegal activities involving our cards; and
  • issues arising at Visa Europe, including failure to maintain interoperability between our systems;
• costs arising if Visa Europe were to exercise its right to require us to acquire all of its outstanding stock;
• loss of organizational effectiveness or key employees;
• failure to integrate recent acquisitions successfully or to effectively launch new products and businesses;
• changes in accounting principles or treatments; and

the other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10−K on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on such statements. Unless required to do so by law, we do not intend to update or revise any forward−looking statement, because of new information or future developments or otherwise.

Contacts:

Investor Relations: Jack Carsky or Victoria Hyde-Dunn, 415-932-2213, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Media Relations: Will Valentine, 415-932-2564, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Operational Performance Data

The tables below provide information regarding the available operational results for the 3 months ended June 30, 2012, as well as the prior four quarterly reporting periods and the 12 months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, for cards carrying the Visa, Visa Electron and Interlink brands. Also included is a table with information on the number of billable transactions processed on Visa Inc.'s CyberSource network.

1. Branded Volume and Transactions

The tables present total volume, payments volume, and cash volume, and the number of payments transactions, cash transactions, accounts and cards for cards carrying the Visa, Visa Electron and Interlink brands. Card counts include PLUS proprietary cards. Nominal and constant dollar growth rates over prior years are provided for volume-based data.