Visa second-quarter profit falls as pandemic crimps travel spending

Visa Inc reported a small fall in quarterly profit on Tuesday as the COVID-19 pandemic hurt large parts of the global travel and retail industries, hitting cross-border spending volumes for the world's largest payment processor. Visa said total payment volumes rose 11% on a constant dollar basis from a year earlier, after rising 5% in the previous quarter.

Visa Inc reported a small fall in quarterly profit on Tuesday as the COVID-19 pandemic hurt large parts of the global travel and retail industries, hitting cross-border spending volumes for the world's largest payment processor.

Visa said total payment volumes rose 11% on a constant dollar basis from a year earlier, after rising 5% in the previous quarter. Payment companies are slowly seeing an uptick in volumes from the coronavirus-induced slump as government stimulus and vaccination plans fuel an economic recovery.

Net income fell to $3 billion, or $1.38 per Class A share, for the second quarter ended March 31, from $3.08 billion, or $1.38 per Class A share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of $1.27 per share, according to the IBES estimate from Refinitiv.