MoneyGram Posts $16M Profit

MoneyGram International Inc. said its fourth quarter net income rose 105% on improvements in operating efficiencies and an increase in funds transfers.

Its profit for the three months was $16.2 million and revenue rose 2.6%, to $303.4 million.

Profits during the quarter were affected by $5.9 million of stock-based compensation, $16.4 million of a reversal of a patent-lawsuit accrual and $2.3 million of restructuring and reorganization costs, the Minneapolis company said.

A $3.6 million writeoff of deferred financing costs and debt discount related to a $75 million debt prepayment also affected profitability.

Revenue performance reflected a $1.2 million year-over-year decline in investment revenue, MoneyGram said.

Revenue in the global funds-transfer segment rose 4.9%, to $276.7 million. Within that segment, funds-transfer revenue rose 6.7%, to $246.2 million.

Bill-payment revenue fell 8.2%, to $30.4 million, on softness in the traditional auto-loan and credit card payment categories, Pamela Patsley, MoneyGram's chairman and chief executive, said during a Feb. 4 conference call to discuss earnings.

MoneyGram had 227,000 agent locations at the end of the year, a 19% increase from a year earlier, it said.

MoneyGram and Visa Inc. recently expanded their relationship by enabling U.S. consumers to send funds to Visa cardholders in Mexico through MoneyGram retail locations.

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