Western Union Q3 Mixed, But Digital Transactions Accelerate

Western Union said Tuesday (Nov. 1) that it earned $0.44 per share, a result that matched The Street. But looking at revenue and other line items, results were mixed. The total top line came in at $1.38 billion, which just missed the $1.39 billion projected by The Street.

In commentary on the conference call with investors, Hikmet Ersek, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said that “our U.S. business remained strong” and that the WesternUnion.com money transfer business “accelerated nicely,” with 28 percent growth in constant currency.

The U.S., said the executive, was enough to help balance against softness in “many” of the Middle East and African countries (which softened as oil prices and energy prices in general declined).

The total top line growth of 2 percent, boosted by the consumer money transfer business, again came on the strength of the U.S. and as funds flowed from the U.S. to Mexico, with the firm doubling its network size in that country.

The digital applications also pushed fund flows from the U.S. markets and with new markets entered in what is now more than three dozen locales. U.S. originated online transactions were up 33 percent year over year. WesternUnion.com, said management on the call, has seen revenue contributions of 8 percent of the total top line as transactions and revenues have grown by double-digit percentages on each metric.

Speaking broadly of the competitive environment within C2C transactions, the CEO said the landscape has been stable. In response to questioning on the call about competition, specifically against Walmart and others, Ersek said that the pricing of his firm’s service is comparable on up to $1,000 transactions.