Boston, MA 10/31/2013 (wallstreetpr) – The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) the world largest money transfer company has reported a drop in its Q3 earnings by 20% mainly hurt by decreasing revenue from its consumer business and higher operating expenses. The company CEO Ersek was still upbeat despite the bad results exhuming confidence that the company was in the right path and in progress to do better in the coming quarters. Western Union reported a net income of $214.14 for the third quarter down from $269.5 million the same quarter last year. The net income translates to 45 cents a share a high from consensus analysts of 35 cents a share.
Western Union third quarter revenue stood at $1.4 billion down by 1% from a year ago of $1.42 billion. The company CEO maintains the company is in line to meet its financial outlook for the year by narrowing earnings per share outlook. The company forecasts full year earnings of $1.38 to $1.48 per share in comparison to the previous range of $1.33 to $1.43 a share. The company profits have been greatly impacted by the company strategies of cutting prices in certain markets in the past year. The price cuts were aimed at increasing transaction in the coming years to make Western Union more competitive.
Western Union generated strong cash flow for the third quarter with consumer to consumer transaction growth rate hitting a high of three years. Revenues from Consumer to consumer segment slumped by 2% to $1.13 billion due to lower transaction fees and high foreign exchange revenues. A 20% decline in operating income meant the company posted a low of $271.1 million. Consumer to business segment saw an increase of revenues by 3% to clock a year over of $152.3 million attributed to high transaction fees. The operating income in this segment declined by 21% to clock at $29.3 million
