MASTERCARD Inc, the credit-card company whose shares surged more than 500 percent since going public in 2006, has reported a first-quarter profit rise of 85 percent as purchase revenue increased.

Net income rose to US$398 million, or US$3.01 a share, from US$214.9 million, or US$1.57 a year earlier, the Purchase, New York-based company said in a statement yesterday.

MasterCard, the world's second-largest credit-card network after Visa Inc, has beaten analysts' profit estimates every quarter since chief executive officer Robert Selander took the company public. Now Selander must keep profits rising as the US economy slows and Visa, bolstered by a record US$19 billion initial public offering last month, tries to increase its own market share as consumers abandon cash and checks in favor of cards, Bloomberg News said.

"The primary drivers of MasterCard's business, including retail sales, travel volumes and credit growth still appear to be largely intact," Adam Frisch, analyst at UBS AG in New York, said in an April 10 research note. He rates the company "buy."

The company rose US$5.11 to US$242.50 in New York.