Visa shrugs off consumer downturn - BBC News

Visa have posted a 28% rise in net income for the first three calendar months of 2008 as recognition card minutes increased.

The electronic-payments house said nett income was $314m (£157.6m), up from $246m the twelvemonth before.

But analysts had expected even better, and Visa shares drop 4% after the United States marketplace closed. This proposes they will fall on Tuesday.

These are the first consequences from Visa since it raised $18bn in the greatest United States share sale to day of the calendar month last month.

"Despite a ambitious economical environment, Visa recorded strong growing in payments volume and minutes globally and across our diverse suite of products," said president and main executive director Chief Joseph Saunders.

He said he saw this tendency continuing.

The house have benefited from an increasing electric switch to making payments using plastic rather than cash.

Legal battles

Visa is more than secure from a United States consumer lag than its challengers American Express and Discover Financial Services because its clients are not the cardholders, but the Banks that issue Visa card game and do the loans to its customers.

It confronts larger hazards from possible lawsuits.

Last twelvemonth Visa agreed to pay American Express $2.1bn to settle down a lawsuit in which American Express accused Visa of illegal anti-competitive practices.

It confronts similar allegations from Discovery Financial Services.

The San Francisco-based steadfast set aside $292m to cover future judicial proceeding costs.

This is in improver to the $3bn it put aside from its initial populace offering for possible legal liabilities.