South Portland-based payment processor Wex Inc. posted strong financial results for the second quarter, with revenue up 30 percent and adjusted net income up 15 percent from a year earlier.

Melissa Smith

Company President and CEO Melissa Smith said the growth was driven by sales increases across all segments of the company, including payment services for vehicle fleets, online travel services and health care and employee benefits providers. The company’s global workforce grew to 2,700 employees – including 800 in Maine, up from 750 a year earlier.

“Every part of the business is doing better,” Smith said. “Life is good.”

On Thursday, Wex reported second-quarter revenue of $303.9 million, up 30 percent from $233.9 million in the second quarter of 2016. Adjusted net income attributable to shareholders was $54.2 million, or $1.26 per share, up 15 percent from $42.6 million, or $1.10 per share, a year earlier.

Before adjustments for one-time gains and costs, net income for the quarter was $17.1 million, or 40 cents per share, up from $12.6 million, or 32 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2016.

Wex is a public company with a market capitalization of about $4.8 billion that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WEX.

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Highlights from the quarter included:

The average number of vehicles serviced worldwide was roughly 10.9 million, an increase of 13 percent from the second quarter of 2016.

Total fuel transactions processed increased by 24 percent from a year earlier to 130 million. Payment processing transactions increased by 15 percent to 108.1 million.

The average expenditure per payment-processing transaction was $68.43, an increase of 23 percent from the second quarter of 2016.

U.S. retail fuel prices increased by 5 percent from a year earlier to $2.41 per gallon, boosting Wex revenue by about $8 million.

Total travel and corporate solutions card purchase volume grew by 37 percent to $7.7 billion from $5.6 billion in the second quarter of 2016.

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Total health and employee benefits services purchase volume increased by 7 percent from a year earlier to $1.1 billion.

“Each area was incrementally higher than we thought,” Smith said. “Organic growth (is) happening across all areas of our business.”

She said Wex is still awaiting approval on a plan to expand into downtown Portland in 2019. The company announced in May that it hopes to relocate its global headquarters to Portland’s downtown waterfront by partnering with a developer who has placed a bid on a parcel of city-owned land across from the Ocean Gateway building. Another developer also seeks to buy the land for a mixed-use project.

J. Craig Anderson can be contacted at 791-6390 or at:

canderson@pressherald.com

Twitter: @jcraiganderson


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