Global Payments Inc. today announced results for its fiscal third quarter ended February 28, 2015.

“We are pleased to report strong third quarter financial results, reflecting the success of our strategy to deliver technology-enabled payments solutions across an expansive direct customer base worldwide, while continuing to invest in future growth,” said Chief Executive Officer Jeff Sloan. “Our acquisition of Realex Payments enhances our international ecommerce offerings, extends our foundation for omni-channel capabilities and accelerates growth in our pan-European payments business.”

Third Quarter 2015 Summary

• Revenues grew 8% to $666.9 million, compared to $616.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014.
• Cash diluted earnings per share1 grew 19% to $1.14, compared to $0.96 in the third quarter of fiscal 2014.
• GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.93, compared to $0.76 in the third quarter of fiscal 2014.

2015 Outlook

“We delivered solid revenue growth and meaningful margin expansion in the third quarter despite the significant strengthening of the U.S. dollar, and we are again increasing our full-year margin and cash earnings per share expectations,” stated Cameron Bready, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “We are also pleased to announce that we plan to enter into an accelerated share repurchase plan, further demonstrating our ongoing commitment to efficiently return capital to shareholders while investing in our business to increase our future growth potential.”

For the full-year of fiscal 2015, the company is maintaining its expectation for annual revenue of $2.75 billion to $2.80 billion, or 8% to 10% growth over fiscal 2014. The company is raising its outlook for annual fiscal 2015 diluted earnings per share on a cash basis to a range of $4.77 to $4.84, or 16% to 18% growth over fiscal 2014, and annual fiscal 2015 GAAP diluted earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $4.01 to $4.08. Our outlook for cash and GAAP diluted earnings per share reflect the impact of share repurchases executed to date only and do not include any benefit from the announced accelerated share repurchase plan. The company also now expects annual fiscal 2015 core cash operating margins to expand by as much as 60 basis points.

Capital Allocation

Global Payments’ Board of Directors approved a fiscal 2015 third quarter dividend of $0.02 per share payable May 29, 2015 to shareholders of record as of May 15, 2015. The company intends to enter into an accelerated share repurchase plan this month to repurchase up to $100 million of the company’s common stock.