Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY) has reported a 21.18 percent rise in profit for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2016. The company has earned $62.24 million, or $0.79 a share in the quarter, compared with $51.37 million, or $0.64 a share for the same period last year.

Revenue during the quarter grew 7.28 percent to $345.03 million from $321.62 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 66 basis points over the previous year period to 43.55 percent. Total expenses were 73.50 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 74.96 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 145 basis points in operating margin to 26.50 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $91.42 million, compared with $80.54 million in the previous year period.

According to David Foss, president and chief executive officer, "We are pleased to report another quarter with record revenue and earnings along with organic growth slightly ahead of our guidance. Our combined sales teams ended the quarter ahead of plan, which is a good indicator to begin the year after the strong sales quarter we experienced in Q4 FY’16. We had two very successful client education conferences in the last two months for our Jack Henry Banking and Symitar brands, with record attendance by existing customers and over forty new core prospects attending between the two conferences."