Second-quarter revenues rose 18%

Increased usage of its products boosted earnings at the credit card firm to $252.3m (�124m) for the quarter.

This included a $90m payment from football's world governing body Fifa after it granted World Cup sponsorship rights to larger rival Visa.

Mastercard made a loss of $310.5m in the same period last year from expenses related to its listing in May 2006.

Revenues during the second-quarter of 2007 were up nearly 18% to $997m.

Despite its strong performance, the company's shares trailed 2.3% in early trade in New York.

Analysts say the share fall stemmed from the fact that investors had already priced in Mastercard's gains, and had higher expectations from the firm for the quarter.