US-based remittance firm Western Union has reported a net income of $614.8m for the second quarter of 2019.
This is a jump of 182% from last year’s income of $217.6m.
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Operating income decreased 9% to $258.9m from $283.6m.
Second-quarter highlights
The firm’s revenue dropped 5% to $1.34bn on a year-on-year basis.
Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) unit revenues dipped 1% on a reported basis.
On a constant currency basis, C2C revenues were up by 1%. Transactions grew 1%.
The firm attributed the growth to Latin America and the US outbound business.
Westernunion.com C2C revenues soared 18% on a reported basis, or 20% on a constant currency basis, on transaction growth of 15%.
Western Union Business Solutions revenues rose 3% on a reported basis.
Revenues of Western Union Business Solutions increased 7% on a constant currency basis. The growth was led by Europe and Australia, Western Union noted.
Other revenues, which mainly include US and Argentina bill payment operations, plunged 31%.
This was said to be driven by the sale of the Speedpay and Paymap businesses as well as the depreciation of the Argentine peso.
Western Union president and CEO Hikmet Ersek said: “Our second quarter results were stable, and strong growth in digital continued, with particularly impressive results in cross-border digital transactions.”
New global strategy
Meanwhile, Western Union unveiled plans to slash around 10% of its workforce as part of a new global strategy aimed at boosting its profit margins.
Under the strategy, the firm will also consolidate its corporate and business offices.
Through the changes, Western Union aims to offer annual savings of around $100m starting in 2021.
