A global economy on the back foot
was reflected in Western Union’s third-quarter results which saw
revenue fall 5 percent compared with the same period in 2008 to
$1.3 billion. The decline was led by Western Union’s major market,
consumer-to-consumer payments, which saw revenue fall 5 percent to
$1.1 billion despite a 3 percent rise in transactions to 50
million.
The hardest hit region was the Americas which
contributed $403 billion (31 percent) of Western Union’s revenue in
the third quarter, down 10 percent compared with the third quarter
of 2008.
Reflecting a slump in outward remittance from
the US, Mexican business was most affected with revenue down 18
percent and transactions down 13 percent. Also struggling was US
domestic money transfer business which recorded a 15 percent
revenue decline fall on a transaction decline of 9 percent.
More than holding its own was the Asia-Pacific
region which lifted revenue 5 percent on transaction growth of 15
percent during the third quarter. Chinese revenue and transactions
each increased 7 percent while the overall region contributed 8
percent of Western Union’s total revenue.
The Europe, Middle East, Africa and South Asia
region, which represented 46 percent of Western Union’s revenue,
produced mixed results, with revenue down 3 percent on an 8 percent
increase in transactions. Notable was India, where Western Union
achieved revenue growth of 8 percent and transaction growth of 16
percent in the quarter.
Commenting on the third-quarter results
Western Union’s Gold CEO Christina Gold highlighted that “strong
progress” had been made in the company’s strategic growth
initiatives.
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By GlobalData“We achieved advances with our Americas
banking strategy, signed letters of agreement with key retail
agents in Europe, and concluded the acquisition of Custom House
[see EPI 267], which gives us a strong platform to grow in the
cross-border, business-to-business payments market,” said Gold.
She continued that Western Union expanded its
presence in mobile money transfer with new carriers and additional
mobile-enabled locations and continued to pilot programmes
positioning the company for the “long-term opportunities available
in prepaid.”
Gold noted that Western Union also achieved
its 2009 goal of surpassing 400,000 agent locations in the third
quarter.
