Western Union Co reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, boosted by its online business, and the world's largest money-transfer company raised its full-year earnings forecast. Western Union said revenue from its online business, including westernunion.com and mobile money transfer, rose 19 percent in the second quarter ended June 30.
"Customers using online or mobile to send money to bank accounts are providing incremental business", Chief Executive Hikmet Ersek said on a conference call, adding he expects such transactions to grow faster in the coming years.
The company has invested heavily in its online business to better compete with fast-growing rivals such as Euronet World-wide Inc.
Western Union is also cutting prices in parts of the United States where it was experiencing the maximum competitive pressures.
"We have not had any net price investment so far. Over all, we have a stable pricing equation," Chief Financial Officer Raj Agrawal told Reuters.
Agrawal also said the company spent 3.7 percent of its revenue on compliance-related expenses during the quarter, within the range of its previous forecast.
Western Union's Irish division was fined 1.75 million euros ($1.93 million) in May after regulators found loopholes in its anti-money laundering controls. The company raised its full-year earnings forecast to $1.60-$1.67 per share from $1.58-$1.65.
Net income fell to $189.3 million in the three months ended June from $193.8 million a year earlier. On a per share basis, the company's earnings were unchanged at 36 cents.
Revenue fell about 2 percent to $1.38 billion.
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