Paychex Profit Up 18%

(RTTNews) - Paychex, Inc. (PAYX) said Wednesday after the markets closed that its fourth quarter profit rose 18% from last year, helped by growths in both payroll and human resource services revenues.

Martin Mucci, President and Chief Executive Officer of Paychex, commented, "We are pleased with our strong finish to fiscal 2014. Payroll service revenue continued to advance for the fiscal year, driven by higher revenue per check, client base, and checks per payroll. Our Human Resource Services revenue continued to grow at a double-digit rate, driven largely by demand for human resource outsourcing solutions. We again finished the year with client retention at record levels."

Looking forward, the company said it expects fiscal 2015 net income to grow 6% to 8% from the fiscal 2014 level.

Paychex shares are currently losing 1.38% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $42.13, up 57 cents or 1.37%. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $36.32 to $45.95.

For the fourth quarter ended May 31, 2014, the Rochester, New York-based company reported net income of $145.9 million or $0.40 per share, compared to $123.5 million or $0.34 per share for the year-ago quarter.

On average, 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.40 per share for the fourth quarter.

Total revenue for the fourth quarter rose 9% to $639.0 million from $585.3 million in the same quarter last year. Excluding PEO adjustment, fourth quarter revenue grew 5% to $617.2 million. Eighteen analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $617.35 million for the fourth quarter.

Total service revenue for the fourth quarter rose 9% to $628.8 million, with Payroll service revenue up 3% and Human Resource Services revenue up 22%.