LEAWOOD, Kan. - Euronet Worldwide Inc. reported increases in both revenue and net income for the first quarter of 2006, the result, the company said, of a 38 percent increase in transaction processing. Revenue for the quarter hit $147 million, up 20 percent from the same period last year. Net income came in at $9.4 million, 24 cents a share, up 62 percent from $3.6 million, 10 cents per share, in 1Q '05.
According to a news release, Euronet processed 199.5 million transactions in 1Q '06, compared to 144.5 million transactions during the same period last year. The company attributed the increases to its implementation of ATM outsourcing agreements and continued growth and acquisitions.
Revenue for the company's EFT processing segment jumped $6 million, from $23.9 million to $29.9 million - growth Euronet attributed to a 23 percent increase in its number of ATM-management deals. The company's fourth-quarter acquisition of Instreamline, now known as Euronet Card Services Greece, which was acquired in the fourth quarter 2005, and the inclusion of Euronet's now wholly owned Serbian business, also contributed to the growth. (Read also, Euronet acquires Instreamline S.A. in Greece.)
The EFT segment completed the quarter with 7,613 owned or operated ATMs, including 50 ATMs Euronet installed in China - its newest market. (Read also, Euronet to provide ATM services in China.) The EFT segment processed 103.1 million transactions in 1Q '06, up from 77.3 million in 1Q 2005.
Euronet now owns and/or operates ATMs in Hungary, Poland, Germany, Croatia, the Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Albania, Serbia and Montenegro, India and China.
Prepaid processing revenue also was up - increasing 19.4 percent, from $89.4 million in 1Q '05 to $111 million. Transactions for the segment increased from 67.2 million in '05 to 96.4 million.
Euronet said it expects to expand its prepaid processing business domestically and internationally through internal growth and acquisitions, where necessary.
