Automatic Data Processing (ADP)

ROSELAND, N.J. (AP) - Automatic Data Processing Inc., the world's biggest payroll processor, said Tuesday its quarterly profit rose 5 percent with help from a one-time tax gain and shrinking expenses.

With the recession still reverberating through the jobs market, ADP said revenue remained flat from the year before at about $2.2 billion. The number of workers on its customers' payrolls fell 5 percent in the U.S., according to company data.

But earnings edged up to $315.8 million, or 62 cents per share, for the fiscal second quarter ended Dec. 31., compared with $300.5 million, or 59 cents per share, a year ago. A favorable tax adjustment added two cents per share in the most recent quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were looking for earnings of 57 cents per share on sales of $2.17 billion.

ADP also tweaked its forecast for the full fiscal year, which ends for the company in June. Rather than a 1 percent to 2 percent decline in sales from the year before, ADP is now expecting revenue will be flat or down just "slightly." Revenue the year before totaled $8.87 billion. ADP expects to hit the high end of its previous full-year earnings forecast, which called for $2.34 to $2.39 per share.

Analysts anticipate a full-year profit of $2.39 on revenue of $8.78 billion.