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Fidelity Nat'l Information 1Q Profit Drops 53 Pct

The Associated Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Fidelity National Information Services Inc., which provides transaction processing, card issuer and outsourcing services for more than 14,000 financial institutions, said Tuesday its first-quarter profit tumbled 53 percent as revenue from its processing and services segment declined.

For the quarter ended March 31, net income declined to $33 million, or 17 cents per share, from $70.5 million, or 36 cents per share, in the year-ago period. But earnings from continuing operations tripled to 18 cents per share from 6 cents a year ago.

Adjusted earnings, which exclude one-time items, totaled 31 cents per share and matched average expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

The company's "disciplined focus on improving efficiency and managing costs" helped boost performance, said William P. Foley II, executive chairman of the company.

Revenue fell 4 percent to $797.8 million from $830.3 million in the first quarter in 2008, coming in shy of Wall Street's $826 million average estimate. Fidelity said increased demand for risk management and commercial outsourcing services was offset by lower software license and professional services revenue.

Fidelity National, which said April 1 it will buy banking and payment technologies provider Metavante for $2.94 billion in stock, backed its full-year outlook for adjusted net earnings of $1.60 to $1.66 per share.

Analysts have forecast $1.62 per share, on average.

Shares of Fidelity National fell 13 cents to close at $18.72 Monday.