News

First Data's 2Q '04 earnings up 15%

July 20, 2004

DENVER - First Data Corp. reported second-quarter earnings that were in line with Wall Street estimates.

Quarterly earnings rose 15 percent to $466 million, or 53 cents per share. The latest quarter includes integration and other charges of 3 cents per share. Revenue increased 22 percent to $2.53 billion from $2.08 billion.

First Data said that payment services delivered $1 billion in quarterly revenues, up 14 percent over 2003's second quarter. Western Union represented more than 80 percent of the segment's revenue. International transaction growth increased by 24 percent. Prepaid and
consumer-to-business transactions grew 20 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

Merchant services' second-quarter revenue was up 46 percent from the same period last year to $997 million, as merchant transactions grew 71 percent for the quarter. Card issuing services posted a 15 percent revenue increase, year-over-year, to $598 million.

First Data said it expects Concord integration activities to achieve approximately $30 million in cost savings for 2004.