MasterCard Incorporated (MA) announced Wednesday financial results for the first-quarter 2007 with net income of 215 million dollars, or 1.57 dollars per share, the highest quarterly net income ever recorded by the company.

Net revenues for the quarter were 915 million dollars, a 23.9 percent increase versus the same period in 2006, according to MA's latest report.

Fueling the higher revenue in the first quarter versus the same period in 2006 was growth in MasterCard's gross dollar volume, which increased 16.4 percent, on a local currency basis, to 509 billion dollars.

Worldwide purchase volume rose 18 percent on a local currency basis, during the quarter to 375 billion dollars, driven by increased cardholder spending on a growing number of MasterCard cards.

As of March 31, 2007, the company's customers had issued 835 million MasterCard cards, an increase of 11.3 percent over the cards issued at March 31, 2006.

"We are very pleased with our first-quarter financial results, which reflect the highest quarterly net income in MasterCard's history," said Robert W. Selander, MasterCard president and chief executive officer.

"This quarter's strong volume growth, especially in markets within the South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America regions, illustrates the success of our strategy and our ability to leverage our unique assets worldwide," said Selander.

Total other income was 22 million dollars in the first quarter 2007 versus 10 million dollars in the first quarter of 2006.

Source: Xinhua