SOUTH PORTLAND – The credit-card payment processing company WEX Inc. said second-quarter earnings rose 5 percent, helped by new contracts and favorable fuel prices.

The South Portland-based company said adjusted earnings totaled $41.1 million, or $1.05 a share, compared with $39.1 million, or $1 per share, for the same period a year ago.

Net income applicable to common shareholders was $42.2 million, or $1.08 per share, compared with $30.3 million, or 78 cents a share, for the second quarter last year. This year’s results topped Wall Street expectations of $1.04 a share.

Total revenue for the second quarter increased 16 percent to $178.3 million from $153.1 million for the second quarter of 2012.

“It was a good, solid quarter,” said WEX Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Dubyak. “The recovery in the U.S. is more equitable throughout the regions of the country, but it’s certainly not robust.”

Shares of WEX rose 2.35 percent, or $2.02, to $87.89 in afternoon trading on Wednesday.

During the second quarter, WEX won a contract with Citgo and saw solid growth in its core fleet business amid recent acquisitions.

During the second quarter, the average number of vehicles serviced by WEX fuel credit cards worldwide rose 10 percent to about 7.4 million. Total fuel transactions processed increased 12 percent from a year ago to 93.4 million. U.S. retail fuel price decreased 2.4 percent to an average of $3.70 per gallon from $3.79 per gallon in the second quarter of 2012.

For the third quarter of 2013, WEX expects revenue in the range of $186 million to $193 million and adjusted net income in the range of $45 million to $48 million.

Wall Street analysts expect WEX to earn $1.17 a share on revenues of $187.97 million in the third quarter.

For all of 2013, the company expects revenue in the range of $718 million to $728 million and adjusted net income to be in the range of $167 million to $171 million.

Analysts expect WEX to earn $4.29 a share on revenues of $713.13 million for the full year.

The company — which employs about 1,400 worldwide, more than 600 of them at the South Portland headquarters — said it continues to explore options for expanding or moving its corporate headquarters within Maine.

WEX has grown through a series of acquisitions, including last year’s $369 million deal to buy fuel-card company Fleet One from private-equity firms. Other recent deals include buying 51 percent of UNIK SA, a Brazilian provider of payroll cards, for about $21.9 million, as well as acquiring CorporatePay, a London-based provider of corporate prepaid cards for the travel industry, for about $27.5 million in cash.

Dubyak said WEX has the financial reserves to make additional acquisitions, but it also plans to grow more on its own and it remains optimistic about its fleet business and travel operations.

Jessica Hall can be contacted at 791-6316 or at:

jhall@pressherald.com

 

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