Wednesday March 17, 9:41 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Billing Concepts Corp.
Billing Concepts Board of Directors Retains DLJ to Evaluate Spin-Off
SAN ANTONIO, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Billing Concepts Corp. (Nasdaq: BILL - news) announced today that the overall reduction of calls into the Company's customer service centers as well as additional integration costs associated with the acquisition of CommSoft will negatively impact revenues and earnings for the second quarter. The Company anticipates that earnings per share could be between $0.16 and $0.17 for the quarter ending March 31, 1999.
The Company also announced today that it has retained Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corporation (''DLJ'') to analyze opportunities to enhance the value of the Company to its stockholders. These opportunities include the potential restructuring of the relationship between the Company's clearinghouse service division and its software division, including the potential spin-off of one of the divisions. The rapid growth in the Company's software division, including its 22% stake in Princeton TeleCom, and the recent increase in acquisition activity in the telecom and billing software industry has prompted the Company's Board of Directors to seek the assistance of DLJ in evaluating these opportunities. Although the Board of Directors is currently undertaking this review, it has made no decision regarding a possible restructuring of the Company. Therefore, there is no assurance that any restructuring will occur.
Parris H. Holmes, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, ''The growth of services such as PCS and Internet have added to the demand for software development, customer care and convergent billing systems. The demand for convergent billing has driven growth in spending by communications companies on customer care and billing solutions to replace aging legacy systems. Our software and direct billing services division has evolved into a business with the distinct characteristics and opportunities that may differ from those of the core clearinghouse and information management services. As a result, the Board of Directors believes that we should explore the strategic, economic, operational and tax considerations involved in a restructuring, spin-off or other stockholder value enhancing activity.''
In addition, Mr. Holmes stated, ''We believe that our clearinghouse service division has reached a baseline from which the Company can begin to grow. In fact, the number of call records for the month of March 1999 is on pace to match the month of March 1998, the strongest month ever in our clearinghouse business.''
Billing Concepts is one of the most experienced providers of comprehensive billing and customer care solutions to the communications industry. The Company licenses fast-to-implement and cost-effective convergent billing software to virtually any size company in the industry. Billing Concepts is also the largest third-party provider of billing clearinghouse and information services to the telecommunications industry. Billing Concepts supports multiple services such as Internet, PCS, cellular, paging, cable/satellite TV, local service, long distance and Carrier Access Billing. With over 600 customers throughout North America, the Company offers billing solutions for service providers including LEC, CLEC, ILEC and ISP companies, from the newest entrants to some of the largest facilities-based providers in the industry. Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, Billing Concepts maintains offices in Corpus Christi, Texas, Glendale, California and Albany, New York. For more information, visit www.billingconcepts.com.
Certain statements contained herein are ''forward-looking'' statements (as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These statements include the Company's announcement of a soft second quarter and its second quarter earnings estimate, the hiring of DLJ to evaluate restructuring opportunities and Mr. Holmes' quote. Because such statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those discussed in filings made by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company disclaims any obligation to update the forward- looking statements.
For more information contact: Terri A. Hunter, Director, Investor Relations of Billing Concepts Corp., 210-949-7020 or email, terri.hunter@billingconcepts.com.
SOURCE: Billing Concepts Corp.
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