Brazil's Cielo narrowly tops profit estimates as transactions grow

Reuters

SAO PAULO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Cielo SA posted second-quarter net income of 989 million reais ($303 million), slightly above a consensus estimate of 978 million reais compiled by Thomson Reuters, as transaction volumes for Brazil's No. 1 credit card processor grew despite the harshest recession in decades.

In a securities filing, Baruari, Brazil-based Cielo said earnings before interest, tax, debt and amortization, known as EBITDA, totaled 1.35 billion reais last quarter, down 0.5 percent from the same quarter a year earlier.

The figure was below the average consensus estimate of 1.65 billion reais, as operating expenses rose 16 percent over the same period last year.

($1 = 3.2615 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Ana Mano, editing by G Crosse)