Equifax CFO sees rise in 1999, 2000 profits
ATLANTA, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Equifax Inc.'s (NYSE:EFX - news) chief financial officer said on Thursday he was comfortable with forecasts the credit-rating company would earn $0.45 a share in the current quarter, $1.55 for all of 1999, and $1.81 in 2000.
David Post said he backed those First Call/Thomson Financial consensus analysts' estimates during an interview after a company-sponsored investment conference.
In last year's fourth quarter, Atlanta-based Equifax posted net income per share of $0.31. Its net income per share for the full-year 1998 was $1.34.
During the conference, Post said the company's margin, or operating profit divided by revenues, would reach mid-teens in Europe within two years.
Equifax's European operations declined into red ink in last year's fourth quarter before returning to slim profitability in the third quarter of this year. The decline was attributed in part to erroneous forecasts by European management.
That management has been replaced, according to Richard Crutchfield, executive vice president for Equifax in Europe.
Chief Operating Officer Lee Kennedy said Equifax stood to benefit from the pending repeal of the U.S. law barring banks from expanding into the insurance and brokerage businesses.
Banks, already big customers of Equifax, are likely to buy more services from the company as they move into the selling of insurance and stocks, he said.
``We can step in and provide information for those institutions to reach their goals,' he said.
Equifax, which has credit files on 200 million U.S. consumers, has only a tiny presence in the insurance and brokerage businesses but a sizable position in the banking business. |
