TSYS® Reports 15.5% Increase in Net Income for 1998
Columbus, Ga., January 7, 1999 -- Today, Total System Services, Inc.® (TSYS®) (NYSE: "TSS") announced record revenues and net income for the twelve months and fourth quarter ended December 31, 1998.
Net income for 1998 increased 15.5% to $54.8 million, or basic and diluted earnings per share of $.28, up from $47.5 million, or basic and diluted earnings per share of $.24, for the same period last year. Revenues for 1998 were $396.2 million, an increase of 9.6%, compared with revenues of $361.5 million for 1997.
Net income for the fourth quarter increased 12.4% to $17.8 million, or basic and diluted earnings per share of $.09, up from $15.8 million, or basic and diluted earnings per share of $.08, for the same period last year. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 1998 were $109.0 million, an increase of 13.0%, compared with revenues of $96.5 million for the fourth quarter of 1997.
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Richard W. Ussery, said "TSYS enjoyed another solid financial performance as evidenced by our earnings for the year and fourth quarter of 1998, and we anticipate 1999 will be another year of record performance. During the fourth quarter of 1998, Synovus Financial Corp. and its affiliates, including TSYS, were named #1 on FORTUNE's 100 Best Companies to Work for in America list. This recognition is a validation of our belief that people are our most valuable asset and an affirmation of our people development programs."
Ussery continued, "We just completed the most demanding quarter in the history of our company. We began moving to our campus-type facility in December. Currently, approximately 900 team members have moved to the new site, with the next phases to be completed by the end of the third quarter 1999. We also completed our expansion of the operations center in north Columbus, as well as the new data center in east Columbus, which contributed to our increased expenses for the fourth quarter of 1998, compared to the same period last year."
TSYS acquired a business unit from its affiliate company, Columbus Bank and Trust®, the flagship bank of Synovus Financial Corp., TSYS' parent company. The business unit, Partnership Card Services, became part of TSYS' wholly owned subsidiary, TSYS Total Solutions, Inc., on January 1, 1999. The enhanced company will service card accounts throughout their entire life cycle.
For the first time in the history of its state-of-the-art, Year 2000-compliant cardholder system, TSYS is processing a majority of its accounts on TS2®. At the end of the fourth quarter of 1998, TSYS was processing approximately 62 million of its 117 million accounts on file on TS2. The conversion of the Universal Card Services' accounts to TS2 was completed in the fourth quarter of 1998.
The conversion of the Sears portfolio, which will represent the largest conversion in the history of the credit card industry, began in October 1998, with approximately 7.2 million accounts converted to TS2. The entire Sears portfolio is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 1999.
By the end of 1999, TSYS expects to increase its accounts on file to approximately 190 million with the conversions of the card portfolios of Sears, Canadian Tire and Royal Bank of Canada.
During the fourth quarter of 1998, TSYS strengthened its market position in the commercial card arena as it converted approximately 2 million accounts for five banks issuing the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) portfolio. TSYS is the only third-party processor providing bankcard processing services for GSA and already processes for 86 percent of the U.S. commercial products issued by Visa and MasterCard.
TSYS (www.totalsystem.com ) is one of the world's largest credit, debit, commercial and private-label card processing companies. An 80.7% owned subsidiary of Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: "SNV")( www.synovus.com), TSYS serves card-issuing institutions throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico. Creating innovative processing solutions, TSYS makes it possible for approximately 117 million cardholders to use their cards and enables card-issuing institutions to profitably compete and better serve their customers through our world-class people, technology and service.
Contacts:
James B. Lipham
Chief Financial Officer
ph. (706) 649-2262
Patrick A. Reynolds
Director of Investor Relations
ph. (706) 649-5220
snvir@synovus.com
The matters set forth in this news release contain forward-looking statements that are dependent on certain risks and uncertainties including the successful conversion of card portfolios to TSYS' processing systems.