May 6 (Reuters) - Banking and payments processing

conglomerate Fidelity National Information Services ( FIS )

raised its forecast for annual adjusted profit and posted a 49%

jump in its first-quarter profit on Monday, helped by resilient

consumer spending.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

Payment processors such as FIS collect transaction fees from

financial institutions and businesses that are strongly

correlated with consumer spending volume.

A tight labor market and rising wages have afforded job

security to U.S. residents, allowing them to continue spending

on shopping, travel and dining out.

KEY QUOTE

"We are off to a very strong start in 2024. This marks the

fifth straight quarter of exceeding our financial outlook, and

we are pleased with the continued new sales momentum we are

seeing across the business," said FIS CEO Stephanie Ferris.

BY THE NUMBERS

- FIS now expects annual adjusted profit per share to be

between $4.88 and $4.98, higher than its previous forecast of

$4.66 to $4.76.

- The company also forecast adjusted profit to be between

$1.21 and $1.25 per share in the second quarter, above analysts'

average expectation of $1.15 per share, according to LSEG data.

- The company's adjusted net income from continuing

operations, which includes businesses other than the Worldpay

merchant solutions business, rose 49% to $635 million for the

quarter ended March 31.

- Revenue from the banking solutions business, which offers

core processing and transaction processing software to financial

institutions, rose 2% from a year earlier to $1.68 billion.

MARKET REACTION

Shares of the company jumped 3.1% in extended trading. The

stock has risen 17.3% so far this year, as of its last close.