40.9-million-dollar profit

dpa German Press Agency Published: Friday February 9, 2007

New York- US credit card company MasterCard Inc posted 40.9
million dollars in fourth-quarter profits on Friday after a loss in
the year-earlier period, but shares plunged after the company said it
had no plans to raise fees.
Net income was up from a 52.9-million-dollar loss in the fourth
quarter of 2005, thanks to an earlier increase in international fees
on purchases and the growing use of credit and debit cards by
consumers. Revenue increased 17 per cent to 839 million dollars from
715.9 million dollars in the year-earlier period, the Purchase, New
York-based company said.

"Our success in displacing paper-based forms of payment reflects
the strength of our brand and network," chief executive Robert
Selander said in a statement.

The company also promised a big increase in dividends for the
quarter from nine to 15 cents per share.

Shares in MasterCard, which has been a listed company since May
2006, fell 8.64 per cent to 104.83 dollars in morning trading on Wall
Street.

"There's no pricing increase planned. This is not sustainable,"
Christopher Brendler, analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co, told
Bloomberg financial news service.

For the fiscal year of 2006, revenue was 3.3 billion dollars, up
from 2.9 billion dollars in 2005, while profits fell to 50.2 million
dollars from 266.7 million dollars. But annual profits were 457
million dollars excluding special items, including 395 million
dollars in costs from a share-donation to the MasterCard Foundation.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency