Automatic Data Processing Inc.'s (ADP) fiscal third-quarter
profit rose 6.7% as the payroll and benefits-administration company
continued to add new clients.
Widely recognized for its stamp on worker paychecks, ADP's
business stretches from payroll management to the administration of
employee benefits and outsourcing of human resources tasks. Recent
quarters have seen some of its strongest growth in new customers
come from small to medium-sized companies.
For the latest period, the company said new-business sales for
employer services and professional employer organizations
services--a key metric for ADP--jumped 12% from a year earlier.
For the quarter ended March 31, ADP reported a profit of $452.4
million, or 92 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit
of $423.8 million, or 85 cents a share.
Total revenue rose 6.8% to $2.92 billion. Analysts polled by
Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 91 cents a share on $2.92
billion in revenue.
Revenue at the company's employer-services segment, by far its
biggest by sales, rose 6.8% to $2.11 billion. The number of
employees on ADP's clients' payrolls in the U.S. rose 3.3% during
the period.
Shares closed Monday at $55.62 and were inactive premarket. The
stock is up 3% since the start of the year.
-By Mia Lamar, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3207;
mia.lamar@dowjones.com