VED Veda Group Fpo (delisted)

Equifax Inc. on Wednesday offered a strong outlook for 2016 after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

Shares added 1.6% in after-hours trading.

Equifax—one of three major U.S. credit-reporting companies, along with rivals TransUnion Corp. and Experian—is best known for its business of compiling credit information on individuals and selling it to lenders, who use it to make decisions on applications for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and other borrowings.

But the Atlanta-based company has lately been expanding into areas such as credit-card marketing, fraud detection and credit-risk consulting through acquisitions and partnerships. It is expanding geographically, too. Last year, the company reached a deal to buy Australia's Veda Group Ltd. for nearly $2 billion.

For the period ended Dec. 31, Equifax reported a profit of $111.9 million, or 93 cents a share, compared with $98 million, or 80 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items, per-share earnings were $1.14 a share. The company had forecast per-share earnings of $1.10 to $1.12.

Revenue rose 6.7% to $666.3 million, above the $655 million to $665 million Equifax had forecast for the quarter.

Equifax's board also raised the quarterly dividend by 14% to 33 cents a share, an increase of 4 cents a share, to yield 1.4%. The increased dividend is payable to shareholders of record as of March 3.

For 2016, Equifax said it expects adjusted earnings of $4.95 to $5.05 a share, while analysts had forecast $4.93 a share in earnings.

The company forecast revenue of $3 billion to $3.1 billion, above the $2.85 billion analysts had expected. Currency fluctuations are expected to represent a 2% to 3% headwind on revenue growth.

For the current quarter, the company forecast adjusted earnings a share of $1.14 to $1.16 on revenue of $685 million to $695 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast earnings of $1.17 a share on revenue of $689.7 million.

Equifax expects to close on the Veda deal soon, Chairman and Chief Executive Richard F. Smith said. The acquisition is expected to give Equifax a substantial foothold in the region as Australia is adopting a comprehensive credit-reporting regime that brings it into line with most of the developed world, including many of the countries where Equifax already operates.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com and Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 10, 2016 18:05 ET (23:05 GMT)

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