I press will start out like this............
CheckFree Announces Record Revenue and Operating Results for
Everything below this line will Change...........................................................
Second Quarter
ATLANTA -- CheckFree Holdings Corporation, Inc. (Nasdaq: CKFR) today announced quarterly revenues of $56.5 million for the second quarter ended December 31, 1997 compared to $38.5 million for the same period in the prior year. For the six months ended December 31, 1997, the Company reported revenues of $108.6 million, compared to $71.2 million for the same period in the prior year.
Excluding a charge for purchased in-process research and development costs in the quarter related to the acquisition of Advanced Mortgage Technologies, Inc.,Scratch this.... the Company reported a net loss of $1.1 million for the quarter, or two cents per share, compared to a net loss of $5.3 million or 13 cents per share for the same period in the prior year. Including the charge for purchased in- process research and development, the Company reported a net loss for the quarter of $1.7 million, or three cents per share, compared to a net loss of $5.3 million, or 13 cents per share for the same period in the prior year.
For the six months ended December 31, 1997, excluding a gain on asset dispositions, exclusivity amortization and a charge for purchased in-process research and development, the Company reported a net loss of $4.4 million, or eight cents per share, compared to a net loss of $13.1 million, or 31 cents per share for the same period in the prior year.
Including the gain, exclusivity amortization and purchased in-process research and development, the Company reported net income on a year to date basis of $8.1 million, or 14 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $13.1 million, or 31 cents per share for the same period in the prior year.
Hopefully we can eliminate this paragraph
The Company reiterated its comfort with analysts' projections that it will achieve break-even operating results in the quarter ended March 31, 1998, and profitability in the quarter ending June 30, 1998.
and add something like this
The Company said, we made a lot of money a lot faster than we thought. When we figure out what we are going to do with it we will let you know. But, right now we are in negotiations to buy Michigan...and give it to a friend of ours.
"The financial electronic commerce market is on the verge of unprecedented growth as banks begin to implement their next generation solution," said Peter J. Kight, chairman and CEO of CheckFree. "It's a powerful combination when customers can log into their bank to electronically manage their personal finances. Today CheckFree's biller relationships and processing engine are already helping our participating banks offer their customers online banking, bill presentment and bill payment."
CheckFree currently has agreements with over 290 financial institutions to provide banking and electronic billing and payment processing services. At December 31, 1997, more than 2.2 million home banking and bill payment subscribers were relying on CheckFree for behind-the-scenes processing, an increase of 70 percent over December 31, 1996, and a 10 percent sequential increase over September 30, 1997.
CheckFree and Integrion Form Strategic Alliance to Expand Electronic
Billing and Payment
The emergence of electronic billing and payment reached a milestone as CheckFree and Integrion formed a 10-year strategic alliance to provide complete electronic banking, billing and payment based on Integrion's Gold message standard for electronic commerce. The two companies will work with IBM, Integrion's primary technology partner, to fully integrate Integrion's Interactive Financial Services (IFS) banking platform with CheckFree's electronic billing and payment processing infrastructure.
"Through Integrion, America's financial institutions have an opportunity to define the way in which financial electronic commerce occurs," said Kight. "The sooner banks are up and running on IFS, the sooner they will enjoy the cost efficiencies and service enhancements of the combined Integrion and CheckFree alliance and the sooner they will be able to offer value-added services to their customers."
Within the first half of 1998, IFS will be seamlessly connected with the CheckFree processing engine to ensure that high quality, efficient electronic billing, payment and customer care are provided. Also in 1998, banks using IFS will be the first to offer their customers fully integrated electronic banking, billing, and payment services developed by CheckFree and Integrion.
As the only company with a proven, in-market tested solution for electronic billing and payment, CheckFree has contracts with 22 of the nation's largest billers, the largest statement processor and will soon announce the full market launch of some of the largest billers in the world. Combined, these billers represent nearly 400 million billing and payment transactions per month. With electronic billing, banks and other billers can save from 30-60% over traditional methods of bill delivery.
Genesis Platform Consolidation
The Genesis project consists of three phases which address infrastructure enhancements to improve operating effectiveness for remittance processing, data center costs and electronic banking and bill payment. To date, the next generation remittance engine has been completed and is in production at high volumes with traffic from many sources including Chase and Key banks.
CheckFree is now more than half way through the second phase of the project
-- creating a centralized, state-of-the-art data center. Most recently, the Company completed the consolidation of the Chicago data center into the new ECenter in Atlanta. In that single cutover, one million accounts were moved 800 miles without a single customer noticing an interruption of service. By June 30, Columbus and Austin will be moved to the new center.
CheckFree is also right on track for the third component of Genesis, the development of next generation banking and bill payment processing engines.
CheckFree Investment Services Reaches 400,000 Portfolio Milestone
Through the Company's portfolio management systems, APL and APL WRAP, CheckFree provides portfolio accounting, performance measurement, trading and reporting for more than 215 institutions. These leading institutions now manage more than 400,000 portfolios representing over $250 billion in assets. The Investment Services division has doubled the number of portfolios on the APL system in three years, a 30 percent annual rate.
Highlights of the quarter ending December 31, 1997
-- December 22, 1997 -- CheckFree Holdings Corporation, Inc. is formed
with CheckFree Corporation remaining as the Company's main operating
subsidiary.
-- December 10, 1997 -- American Electric Power signs up for CheckFree
E-Bill to offer electronic billing and payment to its 2.9 million
customers.
-- November 24, 1997 -- Chairman and CEO Pete Kight Joins RDS '97 to
explore "The Role of Banks in Interactive Billing and Payment."
-- November 17, 1997 -- HomeSide Lending brings CheckFree E-Bill to 1.2
million homeowners in the U.S.
-- October 9, 1997 -- Chase Manhattan Bank signs with CheckFree to become
the first bank in the U.S. to offer electronic bill presentment
services to its individual and commercial customers. The service is
expected to be live the first quarter of 1998. Chase's credit card
and mortgage units will be among the first billers to go live on the
service.
-- October 6, 1997 -- CheckFree acquires leading default management
system from Advanced Mortgage Technology, Inc. CheckFree is now the
only company that can provide mortgage origination, servicing,
tracking and default management.
CheckFree is a wholly owned subsidiary of CheckFree Holdings Corporation, Inc. Founded in 1981, CheckFree (www.checkfree.com) is the leading provider of electronic commerce services, software and related products for 2.2 million consumers, 1,000 businesses and 850 financial institutions. CheckFree designs, develops and markets services that enable its customers to make electronic payments and collections, automate paper-based recurring financial transactions and conduct secure transactions on the Internet.
Certain of the Company's statements in this news release contain forward-
looking statements, including the statement regarding analysts projections of break-even and profitability, (4th paragraph), the statement regarding the connection of IFS and CheckFree's processing systems (9th paragraph) and the statement regarding expected completion of the Genesis project (12th paragraph). These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation the timely implementation of existing bank processing agreements, the ability of the Company to sell its processing services to additional banks, the acceptance of the Company's electronic banking and bill payment services by financial institutions, businesses and their customers, the acceptance of the Company's applications software, services and related products by financial institutions, the impact of competitive services and products, the Company's ability to efficiently integrate recent acquisitions, including Intuit Services Corporation, Servantis Systems, and Security APL, the effect of any future acquisitions or divestitures, and the timely development and acceptance of new electronic commerce services and products, as well as the various risks inherent in the Company's business and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 1997. One or more of these factors have affected, and could in the future affect, the Company's business and financial results in future periods and could cause actual results to differ materially from plans and projections.
CHECKFREE HOLDINGS CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
Consolidated Condensed Results of Operations
(Unaudited)
(In thousands, except per share data)
Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
December 31, December 31,
1997 1996 1997 1996
Revenues:
Processing
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