UPDATE 1-Fidelity National posts three-fold rise in Q1 profit
* Q1 EPS $0.18 vs $0.06 last year
* Total expenses declined 19 pct
April 28 (Reuters) - Fidelity National Information Services Inc (FIS.N), which agreed to buy Metavante Technologies Inc MV.N for $2.94 billion earlier this month, posted a three-fold rise in quarterly earnings mainly due to a decline in expenses.
Cost of revenue fell more than 8 percent during the first quarter to $594.3 million. Selling, general and administrative expenses reduced by about 11 percent to $99 million.
For the latest first quarter, the electronic payment processor posted a 4 percent decline in processing and services revenue to $797.8 million.
Net earnings from continuing operations were $34 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with $10.7 million, or 6 cents a share last year.
Before items, the company earned 31 cents a share.
Analysts on average expected the company to earn 31 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $825.7 million, according to Reuters Estimates.
Free cash flow from operations excluding capital expenses was $119.2 million, compared with $4.9 million in the prior year quarter.
Fidelity National reaffirmed its 2009 adjusted earnings outlook of $1.60 to $1.66 per share. Analysts expected it to earn $1.61 per share, before items, for the full year.
On April 1, the company had agreed to buy rival Metavante in an all-stock deal to create the world's largest provider of integrated payment and financial processing services.
Shares of the company closed at $18.72 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Adheesha Sarkar in Bangalore, Editing by Dinesh Nair)
