01-13-2003, 06:29 PM
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Confirmed User
Industry Role:
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Australia
Posts: 237
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The fact that Ibill's parent is in trouble on the share market speaks volumes.
Quote:
Dow Jones Business News
InterCept Shares Sink 49% as Company Cuts 2002 Forecast
Thursday January 9, 4:24 pm ET
NEW YORK -- Shares of InterCept Inc. (NasdaqNM:ICPT - News) fell sharply Thursday after the provider of electronic funds transfer services to banks bowed out of a scheduled presentation at an investor conference, then cut its 2002 earnings outlook.
Norcross, Ga.-based InterCept cut its estimate for 2002 earnings, excluding items, to a range of 92 cents to 98 cents a share, well below the $1.11 to $1.15 a share it had forecast earlier.
The company also said it was withdrawing its 2003 estimates, issued earlier.
Chief executive John W. Collins blamed the expected earnings shortfall on " poor performance in our merchant division, as well as weakness in our financial institutions division."
The company's iBill operations suffered a large loss of merchant customers after a new credit-card association rule took effect in mid-November, the CEO said.
A number of iBill's web merchants declined to pay a registration fee mandated by the new rule, resulting not only in reduced revenue from InterCept's portion of the registration fee but also lost transaction processing fees from the departed merchants, Mr. Collins said.
InterCept chief financial officer Scott Meyerhoff was scheduled to make a presentation at Needham & Co.'s fifth annual growth conference in New York, a Needham sales representative said.
But "the company canceled their presentation at the Needham conference and all of their one-on-ones," Jeffrey Baker, an analyst at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, said.
As of 4 p.m. EST, InterCept shares changed hands at $9.50, down $9.01, or 49%.
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