DENVER -- First Data Corp. (FDC.N) said its first-quarter 2003 earnings rose to $292.6 million, or 39 cents per share, from $244.3 million, or 31 cents a share, in 2002's first quarter.
According to a Reuters report, the results beat the 37 cents per share analysts on average were expecting. Estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson/First Call ranged from 37 cents to 38 cents.
Shares of First Data rose $1.12, or 3.3 percent, to $34.89, in afternoon trading on April 10.
Revenue at First Data rose more than 15 percent, to about $2 billion, driven by strong growth at Western Union, which continued its aggressive expansion. The company grew in several countries, including Mexico, India and China, bringing its total number of branches to 159,000, a 28 percent increase.
Despite increased competition from banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America as well as other money transfer companies, Western Union achieved 33 percent growth in Mexico.
First Data last week announced plans to acquire Concord EFS for nearly $7 billion, which would give the combined company more than two-thirds of the market for PIN-based transactions.
Analysts have questioned whether the deal will have trouble gaining regulatory approval, as it would unite the NYCE ATM network, which is majority owned by First Data, with Concord's Star, MAC and Cash Station networks. But Chief Executive Charlie Fote said on April 10 he was optimistic that the deal would go through.
"We expect this transaction to take some time to complete, but remain very confident we will gain both regulatory and shareholder approval," Fote said in a conference call.
He said the company would begin mailing proxies on the merger to its shareholders within 30 to 45 days. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
Fote also said he was "very, very comfortable" with the company's prior guidance of earnings per share of $1.87 to $1.93 and said the company was not making any changes to its annual revenue growth target of 14 percent to 17 percent.
