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Technology Stocks : CheckFree Holdings Corp. (CKFR), the next Dell, Intel? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert Sloan who wrote (19848)	10/21/2002 3:17:15 PM
From: peat	Respond to of 20297

this is from E-WEEK October 21, 2002 SAP Closes Billing Cycle By Renee Boucher Ferguson October 21, 2002 SAP Closes Billing CycleBy Renee Boucher Ferguson SAP AG is developing software that integrates the myriad pieces of bill presentment, payment and settlement—processes that to date have been addressed only in parts by banks and pure-play software makers.ADVERTISEMENT The Walldorf, Germany, software developer is readying new and upgraded components for its Financial Supply Chain Management software, which will provide a three-part hub-and-spoke billing system that officials said will be a cheaper, Web-based alternative to products based on EDI (electronic data interchange).Although the bill-paying software can be integrated with SAP's R/3 ERP (enterprise resource planning) software suite, officials at the company said Financial Supply Chain Management will be able to deliver invoices from an Oracle Corp. or a PeopleSoft Inc. financials application. SAP will provide a tool for small companies that don't have an ERP system to trade information with bill consolidators.The software, components of which are available now and next quarter in Germany and due in English versions for North America next year, consists of three components that communicate via XML over the Internet. The Bill of Service Provider component maintains the basic information of the bill issuer and transforms invoices to the SAP IDoc format.The second component, the Consolidator, maintains the relationship between the biller and its customers, as well as maintains an interface with banks to facilitate settlement. Third, the Customer Service Provider component provides a Web front end for customers to view and pay invoices.Along the way the system can verify the parties and the invoices, post open items in the financials systems of the biller and the company receiving the bill, and create a payment file to send to the bank. Authorized banks that also install a component of the SAP software can debit and credit accounts.SAP will market Financial Supply Chain Management first to banks that could offer it as a service and to its large corporate customers that could use it to create a private payment exchange for suppliers. Officials envision generic bill consolidators operating through consumer Web portals ultimately implementing the software.Trelleborg YSH Inc. is in a multiyear, multimillion-dollar R/3 implementation. "This is the backbone of our supply chain management system," said Kishore Nayak, worldwide vice president of IT at Trelleborg, of South Haven, Mich. "From here we are planning to deploy SAP Supplier Portal—a portal for all supplier activities." While Nayak is planning to install a Web-based EDI system, he said he is interested in SAP's financial supply chain software because it could give suppliers more timely information on payments.ADVERTISEMENT "EDI is so expensive that in Germany we have only two suppliers that participate in EDI. So we want to eliminate it," said Nayak. "It's a good time to [investigate financial supply chain software] because I believe it's going to save some money."Many would-be customers of the SAP software simply are not ready to take on the arduous and expensive task of deploying Financial Supply Chain Management, however, because it would require money and a fundamental change in how companies do business with one another."I don't look at SAP as having a significant presence on the supply chain side of things," said R/3 customer Paul Hoogenboom, CIO at RPM International Inc., in Medina, Ohio."We have automated cash management with our banks in each country. What's SAP got to do with all of that?" asked Hoogenboom. "I don't deny that there are things I can do more efficiently with financial settlement issues, but that's not an overriding issue with us."

To: Robert Sloan who wrote (19848)	10/22/2002 4:33:30 PM
From: StocksMan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20297

CheckFree Exceeds Revenue and Earnings Expectations for the First Quarter Of Fiscal 2003 Tuesday October 22, 4:30 pm ET Electronic Commerce Division Posts Stronger Than Anticipated Revenues, And Derives Greater-Than-Expected Efficiency Gains ATLANTA, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CheckFree Corporation (Nasdaq: CKFR - News) today announced first quarter revenues of $129.6 million and net income of $14.1 million, or 16 cents per share, on a pro forma basis. Both measures exceeded the Company's expectations, due to stronger-than-expected performance from the Company's Electronic Commerce division. Pro forma revenues for the quarter ended September 30, 2002 were up 11 percent over the $116.7 million reported for the same period last year. Underlying pro forma revenues for the first quarter are reduced to reflect non-cash revenue of $0.6 million related to warrants issued to a third party in 1999, which vested during the quarter. This revenue is reflected in the Company's reported GAAP basis revenue for the quarter of $130.2 million. Pro forma net income of $14.1 million compares to a pro forma loss of $1.9 million, or a two-cent loss per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2002. On a GAAP basis for the quarter, CheckFree reported a net loss of $16.2 million, or a loss per share of 18 cents, compared to a net loss of $88.9 million, or a loss per share of $1.02, for the first quarter of fiscal 2002. Pro forma results for the quarter ended September 30, 2002, exclude: the cumulative effect of an accounting change of $2.9 million related to the Company's July 1 adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 142 (SFAS 142) regarding accounting for goodwill; $46.2 million of acquisition-related amortization; and the previously mentioned $0.6 million non-cash adjustment to revenue associated with the vesting of warrants; offset by $18.1 million of related tax benefits. This compares to pro forma results for the first quarter of fiscal 2002 that excluded $109.6 million of acquisition-related amortization, offset by $22.5 million of related income tax benefits. With the adoption of SFAS 142, CheckFree has discontinued amortizing its remaining balance of goodwill of $529.2 million associated with all previous acquisitions. Had CheckFree adopted SFAS 142 in the prior year and eliminated goodwill amortization at that time, the Company's comparative GAAP net loss would have been $39.2 million, and its net loss per share would have been $0.45 per share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2001. CheckFree Chairman and CEO Pete Kight said, "We continue to derive economic benefits from the investments we have made in scale and operating efficiency in our Electronic Commerce division, which drove the earnings per share results we posted this quarter. While our top line was helped by timing-related factors that led to the retention of some revenue and transactions from a Consumer Service Provider that we had forecasted to decline, we are encouraged by the continued steady market acceptance of viewing and paying bills online. We had strong growth at our large strategic bank clients, and particularly across the board among our regional financial service clients, which shows an increasing interest across the U.S. consumer market." "Looking forward, we expect continuing market challenges for our Investment Services and Software divisions, and underlying performance roughly similar to what we experienced in the first quarter in our Electronic Commerce division," Kight added. "Even given the challenging overall environment, we expect to continue to improve our ability to provide increasing value for our customers while improving our margins across each of our divisions, which will drive our ability to deliver improved returns to shareholders," he concluded. . . biz.yahoo.com