EXHIBIT 13.2
1998 ANNUAL REPORT MD&A
MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL RESULTS
OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION
This discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the consolidated
financial statements and accompanying notes.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
On August 7, 1997, the Company completed the spinoff of its Insurance Services
industry segment, "ChoicePoint" (Note 2). Accordingly, the results of
operations information presented below reflect only the continuing operations of
the Company.
Consolidated revenue for the year was $1.62 billion, an increase of $254.9
million or 18.7% over 1997. This increase is more than the 11.7% increase in
1997, which was impacted by the divestitures of the health information services
businesses in 1996 and National Decision Systems in 1997. Excluding these
divestitures, revenue increased 19.8% in 1998 and 19.3% in 1997 with
acquisitions contributing about 11.9 and 10.6 percentage points of the
increases, respectively. Revenue growth in 1998 benefited from the performances
of Card Solutions and U.S. Credit Information and Marketing Services, as well as
acquisitions.
Operating income of $365.7 million increased $41.7 million, or 12.9% over 1997
(excluding a $25 million unusual charge in 1997 Note 3). In 1997, operating
income increased $57.0 million, or 21.4% over 1996 before an unusual charge in
each year (Note 3).
The 1998 improvement resulted from the revenue growth and operating margin
improvements in North American Information Services and Payment Services, as
well as gains related to acquisitions in Latin America and continuing expense
controls throughout the organization. These improvements were partially offset
by Equifax Europe, which had a $25.9 million reduction in operating income from
1997 due to several factors (see Equifax Europe segment discussion below). The
1997 improvement in operating income over 1996 resulted from revenue increases
in the higher margin businesses, improved performance in Equifax Europe and
Latin America, and expense controls throughout the Company.
During 1998, the Company expensed approximately $24.2 million ($13.7 million
after tax or $.10 per share) in costs related to the Company's "year 2000
program." In 1997 these costs totaled $4.8 million ($2.9 million after tax or
$.02 per share).
During the second quarter of 1997, the Company's National Decision Systems
business unit was sold resulting in a gain of $42.8 million ($17.9 million after
tax, or $.12 per share) recorded as other income. During the fourth quarter,
Equifax recorded a $25.0 million expense charge ($15.0 million after tax, or
$.10 per share) in connection with its purchase of Computer Science
Corporation's (CSC) collections business. This charge reflects valuation
differences on this acquisition, which was then sold in October 1998 for
approximately the carrying amount of its net assets (Note 10).
Results for 1997 were also affected by a nonrecurring after-tax charge of $3.2
million or $.02 per share related to an accounting rule established by the
Financial Accounting Standards Board Emerging Issues Task Force on November 20,
1997. This rule, EITF Issue No. 97-13, requires certain components of computer
system development projects to be expensed as they are incurred and also
requires that any unamortized amounts previously capitalized be written off
(Note 3).
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (excluding the 1997
nonrecurring gain, unusual charge, and accounting change mentioned above)
increased 8.1% to $1.34 in 1998 from $1.24 in 1997. Net income from continuing
operations was $193.4 million in 1998, an increase of 5.9% over 1997's net
income from continuing operations of $182.6 million (before the nonrecurring
gain, unusual charge, and accounting change). Higher diluted earnings per share
increases relative to net income increases reflect the Company's repurchase of
common shares during 1998. For the year, the average diluted shares outstanding
declined approximately 1.5% as a result of Equifax's share repurchase plan.
1
There are five reporting segments: North American Information Services, Payment
Services, Equifax Europe, Equifax Latin America, and Other. Other is primarily
comprised of the lottery subcontract, and in 1996 also includes health
information services businesses, which were divested during the fourth quarter.
The following discussion analyzes (1) revenue and operating income by the five
segments; (2) general corporate expense; (3) consolidated other income, interest
expense, and effective income tax rates; and (4) financial condition. Note 11
breaks out the segment results by quarter for 1998 and 1997 and Note 12 provides
additional segment and geographic information.
NORTH AMERICAN INFORMATION SERVICES
(in millions) 1998 1997 1996
Revenue $773.9 $709.0 $668.8
Operating income $272.1 $241.6 $220.4
North American Information Services includes U.S. Credit Information and
Marketing Services, U.S. Risk Management Services, Mortgage Services, Canadian
Operations, as well as National Decision Systems (divested in May 1997).
Revenue growth in North American Information Services was 9.1% in 1998, compared
to 6.0% in 1997. Excluding divestitures, revenue increased 11.2% in 1998 and
10.4% in 1997, with 3.5 and 5.1 percentage points of the respective increases
attributable to acquisitions.
U.S. Credit Information and Marketing Services showed a revenue increase of
11.1% in 1998 compared to an 8.4% increase in 1997. The increases in both
periods were driven by volume growth from telecommunication/utility industries'
customers and growth in marketing services. The 1998 increase also benefited
from higher volumes associated with mortgage refinancing activities due to lower
interest rates. Acquisitions accounted for about 2 percentage points of the
revenue increase in each period. Average prices for credit reports were up
slightly in 1998 while remaining relatively stable in 1997. Pricing pressures
on credit reports are expected in 1999, but volume growth is expected to more
than offset price declines.
Revenue in U.S. Risk Management Services increased 18.3% in 1998, with about
half of the increase due to the May 1998 acquisition of CSC's collection
businesses, which were sold in October 1998 (Note 10). The remainder of the
1998 revenue increase was due primarily to new business from customers
outsourcing the accounts receivable management function of their businesses.
Revenue in 1997 increased 18.1%, with about 6.7 percentage points attributable
to acquisitions.
Revenue in Mortgage Services increased $9.6 million for the year due to
increased volumes resulting from the favorable interest rate environment. In
1997, revenue declined $2.1 million from 1996 primarily due to the continuing
shift to the Company's lower-priced automated product.
Canadian revenue declined 4.3% in 1998 due to unfavorable exchange rate
movements. Excluding acquisitions, in local currency, revenue was down slightly
between years, as gains in reporting services were more than offset by declines
in risk management and check services. Revenue in 1997 increased 17.6% due to
acquisitions.
Operating income for North American Information Services increased 12.6% in 1998
and 9.6% in 1997 due primarily to revenue growth within U.S. Credit Information
and Marketing Services. This segment's operating margin continued to increase
in 1998, reflecting the operating leverage inherent in its businesses.
2
PAYMENT SERVICES
(In millions) 1998 1997 1996
Revenue $518.1 $440.0 $339.3
Operating income $104.9 $ 81.2 $ 66.9
Payment Services consists of Card Solutions, Check Solutions, and Card Software.
In September 1998, Payment Services expanded its operations into Latin America
by acquiring a 59.3% interest in UNNISA, a card services business in Brazil and
a 34% equity investment in Proceda, an information technology company that
provides data processing services to UNNISA and other Brazilian companies. In
1998 Payment Services revenue increased 17.7%, with 5.7 percentage points of the
increase attributable to the UNNISA acquisition. In 1997, this segment's
revenue increased 29.7%, with about 18 percentage points of the revenue increase
attributable to the fourth quarter 1996 acquisition of the CSG-Madison card
services business.
Excluding the effects of the UNNISA and CSG-Madison acquisitions, revenue within
Card Solutions increased 13.7% in 1998 and 19.7% in 1997. This growth was
driven by the higher number of cardholder accounts processed, due to business
from new customers (i.e., credit unions and IBAA member banks) that either
converted to or began using the Company's credit and debit card processing
services. The revenue increase in both periods was also attributed to volume
and new account growth from existing customers. Revenue growth in 1998 was
tempered by price reductions within the CSG-Madison operations where certain
cost savings achieved from converting these operations to the Equifax card
processing system were passed on to customers.
Revenue in Check Solutions was up 6.7% in 1998, following a 4.5% increase in
1997. The 1998 growth was driven by volume increases in guarantee revenue and
increasing sales of the Company's lower-priced verification product, PathWays .
As a result of the PathWays /(R)/ product introduction, Check Solutions has
expanded its customer base and retained targeted customers by offering an
alternative to the guarantee product. The 1997 revenue growth in Check Solutions
was primarily due to increased sales of the PathWays /(R)/ product. The dollar
amount of checks guaranteed or verified by Check Solutions was $18.5 billion in
1998 versus $15.8 billion in 1997.
Revenue in Card Software increased 29.7% in 1998 after remaining relatively
level in 1997, due to increased license sales.
Payment Services operating income increased 29.2% in 1998 and 21.5% in 1997.
These increases were primarily attributable to Card Solutions, where operating
income was up 37.7% in 1998 versus 35.1% in 1997. The increase in Card
Solutions operating income in both periods was primarily driven by the revenue
growth. The 1998 results of Card Solutions also benefited from the increased
operating leverage achieved from the CSG-Madison acquisition due to converting
all of its card accounts to the Equifax card processing system during the year.
In 1997 this acquisition contributed only modestly to the results of Card
Solutions. Operating income within Check Solutions was up 4.3% in 1998 compared
to a 4.7% decline in 1997. Card Software operating income increased in both
1998 and 1997. The Brazilian operations were slightly dilutive to this
segment's operating income in 1998.
EQUIFAX EUROPE
(In millions) 1998 1997 1996
Revenue $215.4 $178.6 $157.5
Operating income $ 1.2 $ 27.1 $ 15.7
3
Equifax Europe consists of operations primarily in the United Kingdom and Spain.
During the second quarter 1998, the Company increased its ownership in the
operations in Spain to 58% and obtained the control necessary to consolidate
these operations. Also, in the first quarter 1998, Equifax Europe acquired a
risk management services business in the U.K. Exclusive of these acquisitions,
revenue increased 2.8% in 1998 following a 13.4% increase in 1997. The decline
in the revenue growth rate between years is primarily attributable to fourth
quarter 1998 issues related to: (1) the cancellation or postponement of several
projects which could not meet desired production schedules; (2) refunds to
customers due to quality problems on projects shipped earlier in the year; (3)
increased competition with auto product offerings; and (4) a weaker U.K.
economy. The 1997 revenue increase of 13.4% was due primarily to volume
increases in U.K. Consumer and Business Credit Services and improved performance
across all industry groups.
Operating income for Equifax Europe declined $25.9 million in 1998 after
increasing $11.5 million in 1997. The operating income decline in 1998 resulted
primarily from: (1) the decline in the revenue growth discussed above in
conjunction with a higher expense base built on the expectation of higher
revenues; (2) increased bad check losses in the check services operation; (3)
increased bad debt provisions due to collectibility of past due receivables; (4)
expenses related to the Company's equity investment in RequesT, a start-up joint
venture which was written off in the fourth quarter; and (5) increased year 2000
expense. While the results of Equifax Europe were disappointing in 1998, the
Company has moved swiftly to make appropriate management and process changes and
is giving heightened focus on managing and reducing the expense base of Equifax
Europe to improve its financial performance in 1999. The 1997 operating income
increase resulted primarily from increased revenue and the operating leverage
obtained from the integration of 1994 and 1995 acquisitions.
EQUIFAX LATIN AMERICA
(In millions) 1998 1997 1996
Revenue $103.9 $28.8 $ 0
Operating income $ 21.4 $ 9.2 $3.3
Equifax Latin America consists of a commercial information company in Brazil
(SCI) as well as credit information companies in Chile (DICOM) and Argentina
(VERAZ). Equifax Latin America also has a developing operation in Mexico and, in
1998, acquired a majority interest in credit information companies in Peru and
El Salvador. This segment's 1998 revenue increase was due to the August 1998
acquisition of an 80% interest in SCI and the consolidation of operations in
Argentina (beginning in the first quarter 1998) and Chile (beginning in the
second quarter of 1997). In December 1997, the Company increased its ownership
interest in VERAZ from 33.3% to 66.7%, and began to consolidate their operations
in January 1998. In the second quarter of 1997, Equifax acquired the remaining
50% of DICOM S.A. in Chile which accounted for the entire increase in revenue of
$28.8 million in 1997. Prior to 1997, Equifax did not have a controlling
interest in any of its Latin American joint ventures and therefore did not
record any revenue because the investments were accounted for under the equity
method of accounting.
Operating income for Equifax Latin America increased $12.2 million in 1998.
This increase was primarily due to the ownership increase in Argentina and the
SCI acquisition. Developmental expenses related to the Mexican operations were
about level with those in 1997. The Mexican operations are not expected to be
significant in the near term and will continue to require moderate investment
over the next few years. The increase in this segment's operating income in
1997 was primarily attributable to the improved performance of operations in
Chile and Argentina, as well as the ownership increase in Chile. These gains
were partially offset by higher developmental expenses in Mexico.
4
OTHER
(In millions) 1998 1997 1996
Revenue $9.6 $9.6 $57.2
Operating income $8.9 $8.9 $ 0.5
This segment's revenue and operating income remained comparable between 1998 and
1997. Its operations now consist solely of a subcontract expiring in 2002
related to HISI, the Company's lottery subsidiary. Operations in 1996 included
health information businesses which were sold in the fourth quarter of 1996.
GENERAL CORPORATE EXPENSE
(In millions) 1998 1997 1996
Expense $42.8 $44.1 $39.7
General corporate expense declined $1.3 million in 1998 due to lower incentive
compensation expense, including performance share plan expense. This decline was
partially offset by costs related to the development of remote authentication
and digital certificate services. General corporate expense increased $4.4
million in 1997 due primarily to higher international development costs and
supplemental retirement expenses.
OTHER INCOME, INTEREST EXPENSE, AND
EFFECTIVE INCOME TAX RATES
(In millions) 1998 1997 1996
Other income, net $ 4.3 $45.0 $22.4
Interest expense $42.7 $20.8 $16.4
Effective income tax rate* 40.9% 42.6% 41.7%
*on income from continuing operations before accounting change
Other income in 1998 declined $40.7 million from 1997 due to a one-time gain of
$42.8 million in 1997 related to the sale of National Decision Systems (Note 5),
partially offset by higher levels of interest income in 1998.
Other income increased $22.6 million in 1997 over 1996 due to the National
Decision Systems sale. 1996 other income included one-time gains of $11.6
million from the sale of health information businesses (Note 5) and $8.2 million
from the sale of the Company's investment in Physicians Computer Network, Inc.
5
The increase in interest expense in both years reflects the higher levels of
borrowing (including the 1998 issuance of $400 million in senior unsecured
notes) due to acquisitions and share repurchases.
The decline in the effective income tax rate from 1997 to 1998 resulted
primarily from non-deductible goodwill related to the 1997 sale of National
Decision Systems, partially offset by higher levels of non-deductible goodwill
from 1998 acquisitions. The increase in the effective income tax rate in 1997
over 1996 resulted primarily from the higher level of non-deductible goodwill
related to the National Decision Systems divestiture in 1997 versus the health
information divestitures in 1996.
The effective tax rate in 1999 is expected to be comparable to the rate in 1998.
FINANCIAL CONDITION
Net cash provided by operations increased from $210.1 million to $289.1 million
primarily due to the Company's higher operating income and the timing of
payments between years for income taxes and certain other accrued expenses.
Normal capital expenditures and dividend payments were met with these internally
generated funds.
Other significant outlays in 1998 included $161.8 million of treasury stock
purchases and $501.2 million for acquisitions and equity investments. These
items were principally financed by an increase in long-term debt and excess cash
from operations. In June 1998, the Company offered and sold $400 million
(before discounts and fees) in senior unsecured notes and debentures ($250
million in seven year notes and $150 million in thirty year debentures.)
Cash paid for 1998 acquisitions and equity investments included approximately
$353 million for companies in Brazil. These Brazilian investments diluted 1998
earnings per share by $.03, and are expected to dilute 1999 earnings per share
by about $.07 due to increased goodwill amortization, interest expense, and
expense associated with the Company's "year 2000 program."
Capital expenditures for 1998, exclusive of acquisitions, were $119.3 million.
Capital expenditures for 1999 are expected to be about $120 million due to
continued investment in products and services and system enhancements,
additional projects to improve processes, investments in international
development, and capital expenditures associated with acquisitions. Budgeted
capital expenditures are expected to be met with internally generated funds. As
of December 31, 1998, approximately $61 million remained available for future
share repurchases. At its January 1999 meeting, the Company's Board of
Directors authorized an additional $250 million for future share repurchases of
the Company's common stock.
In 1997, the Company increased its revolving credit facility with its bank group
from $550 million to $750 million. At December 31, 1998, $501 million was
available under this facility to fund future capital requirements, including the
possible purchase of the CSC credit reporting businesses (Note 10). Management
believes that the Company's liquidity will remain strong in both the short and
long terms, and that the Company has sufficient debt capacity to finance all its
capital needs, if necessary.
YEAR 2000 INFORMATION
Background
- ----------
The widespread use of computer software that relies on two digits, rather than
four digits, to define the applicable year may cause computers and computer-
controlled systems to malfunction or incorrectly process data as we approach and
enter the year 2000. In view of the potential adverse impact of these "year
2000 problems" on our business, operations, and financial condition, we have
implemented a central function to manage, validate, and report on a continuing
basis to the Company's executive management and Board of Directors with regard
to our "year 2000 program." Our year 2000 program process comprises five
continuing activities: (a) identification and assessment, (b) remediation
planning, (c) remediation, (d) testing, and (e) contingency planning for year
2000 problem failures.
6
The Company's Year 2000 Focus
- -----------------------------
We have focused our year 2000 program primarily in the following areas: (a) our
information technology systems, which include (i) internally developed business
applications software, (ii) software provided by vendors, and (iii) the computer
and peripheral hardware used in our operations; (b) electronic data interchange
systems; (c) non-information technology systems (embedded technology) including
office business machines, and security, backup power, and other building
systems; and (d) the flow of materials and non-information technology services
from our vendors.
Readiness and Plans
- -------------------
This section describes the status of our year 2000 program activities:
Information Technology Systems
We have completed our year 2000 identification, assessment, and remediation
planning activities for the application software and host environments
(operating systems software and hardware) of our critical information
technology systems, including our systems for North American Information
Services, Payment Services, Equifax Europe, Equifax Latin America, and our
central corporate functions. Regarding remediation and testing, the status
is as follows:
(1) We have completed remediation and internal testing (internal
application testing with current and future dates) for all of the
critical information technology systems of our North American
Information Services businesses, except for a small minority of
systems comprising programs for processing third party data other
than customer trade data. We plan to complete the remediation and
internal testing of those programs by April 1999.
(2) We have completed remediation for all of the critical information
technology systems of our Payment Services businesses, except for
our Brazilian card processing business acquired in August 1998.
With respect to that business, we have begun converting the card
processing accounts of our customers to two new systems
(including our proprietary card processing system) that will
replace the current system. We have installed both new systems,
written to be year 2000 ready, and expect to complete
substantially all internal testing and account conversions by
September 1999.
With respect to our U.S. card services business, we have
completed substantially all of our internal testing on a majority
of our critical information technology systems. We plan to
complete the remaining internal testing of our critical card
processing systems by June 1999. Most of that remaining testing
will be in coordination with software modifications we are making
to conform to recent changes in Visa and MasterCard rules and
regulations unrelated to year 2000.
With respect to our check services business (North America), we
plan to complete the remainder of our internal testing by June
1999.
(3) We have completed remediation of our critical information
technology systems for Equifax Europe. Further, we have
completed substantially all internal testing, except for our
check services business, where we plan to complete internal
testing by April 1999.
(4) We have completed remediation of our critical information
technology systems in Latin America, except for our Brazilian
information reporting business acquired August 1998. We have
completed internal testing, except for (i) our information
reporting business in Chile where we have completed a substantial
majority of that testing, and plan to complete the remaining
internal testing by
7
March 1999, and (ii) our Brazilian information reporting
business. With respect to our Brazilian information reporting
business, we expect to complete substantially all of our
remediation by April 1999, and substantially all of our internal
testing by June 1999.
(5) We have completed remediation and internal testing of our
central, corporate financial, human resources, and payroll
systems in the U.S. With respect to our non-U.S. financial,
human resources, and payroll systems, we are upgrading or
migrating them to third party systems written to be year 2000
ready. We have completed a substantial majority of that process
and have commenced internal testing of those new systems. We
plan to complete the process, including internal testing, by July
1999.
In order to obtain further assurance of year 2000 readiness of our critical
information technology systems, we are conducting additional layers of
testing of those systems beyond internal testing, as we deem appropriate
under the circumstances. We have commenced customer testing (future date
application testing with the customer) with many of our more significant
customers and intend to continue that throughout the year as we deem
appropriate. With regard to a substantial majority of our critical
information technology systems, we have either completed or are in the
process of completing test plans for enterprise testing (internal end-to-
end cross functional testing). We plan to commence enterprise testing in
March 1999, and to continue into the third quarter as we deem appropriate.
Further, we plan to conduct selected external end-to-end testing with
targeted customers during the third quarter and into the fourth quarter.
We have completed the substantial majority of the identification,
assessment, and remediation planning activities with regard to the other
elements of our critical information technology systems (including our
local area networks and desktop computing environments). The remainder of
those activities are on target for completion by March 1999. We plan to
complete the remediation and testing activities associated with those
elements by August 31, 1999.
We concurrently are addressing year 2000 issues with respect to our non-
critical information technology systems and believe their level of
readiness will be sufficient to avoid any material impact on the Company's
business, operations, or financial condition.
The majority of our information technology systems for North American
Information Services and Equifax Europe are operated at data centers
managed by IBM Global Services. IBM continues to assist us in achieving
year 2000 readiness for our data processing operating environments in the
IBM Global Services data centers.
Electronic Data Interchange Systems
We are working with others with whom we engage in electronic data
interchange (including vendors, customers, and other data suppliers), and
with our network telecommunications service providers, to identify, assess,
and test for potential year 2000 problem failures in our electronic data
interchange systems. As part of those efforts, we continue our contacts
with our data interchange vendors and critical network telecommunications
service providers to assess their state of year 2000 readiness and
determine the potential for year 2000 problem failures resulting from their
equipment, networks, or application systems. We are in testing with the
majority of our data interchange vendors, and we continue to monitor the
carrier reporting and testing information being published by industry
organizations such as Network Forum (U.S. local service providers) and ITU
(International Telecommunications Union). We continue to review readiness
analyses published by consulting organizations, such as Gartner and
Forrester, and consultant reviews in relevant industry publications,
pertaining to telecommunications service providers. We believe that this
process will be ongoing throughout 1999, as we develop additional
information regarding those systems. In cases where we determine that the
risks associated with particular service providers are not acceptable, we
believe that we will be able to timely migrate to satisfactory alternative
delivery systems.
8
We have completed a substantial portion of our identification, assessment,
and remediation planning activities for Company owned hardware components
of our critical network telecommunications systems, and we are remediating
those components as appropriate. We believe we will complete the
remediation and testing activities by August 31, 1999.
Overall, we believe that our electronic data interchange systems will be
year 2000 ready as necessary to avoid any material adverse impact on the
Company's business, operations, or financial condition.
Non-Information Technology Systems
We have completed a substantial majority of our ongoing identification,
assessment, and remediation planning for the year 2000 problem failures
that may occur in our non-information technology systems resulting from
embedded technologies, including office business machines, and security,
backup power, and other building systems. We have completed the
substantial majority of our remediation and testing of those systems and
anticipate ongoing testing throughout 1999.
Materials and Services
We have distributed surveys to our materials and non-information technology
services vendors that support our material operations requesting disclosure
of their year 2000 readiness status and their plans for addressing year
2000 problems relating to those goods and services and any applicable
delivery systems. We have requested and will request additional assurances
(including in some instances audit and test activities) from our critical
vendors that their goods, services, and delivery systems will be
appropriately and timely year 2000 ready to meet our continuing needs. If
any vendor is unable or unwilling to provide appropriate assurances, we
believe that we will be able to use alternative vendors. While we believe
we will complete a substantial majority of those activities by June 1999,
they will continue throughout 1999.
Costs to Address
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We estimate that the cost of our year 2000 program activities will be $55
million. Through December 31, 1998, we have incurred costs of approximately $31
million related to those activities. Regarding our annual per share charges, we
expensed approximately one cent per share in 1996, two cents per share in 1997,
and ten cents per share in 1998 in connection with our year 2000 program
activities, and we plan to expense approximately ten cents per share in 1999.
The 1999 expense estimate includes approximately two cents per share related to
our recent acquisitions in Brazil. In addition to costs and expenses of outside
consultants, programmers, and professional advisors, and acquired hardware and
software, the above figures include the direct costs associated with Company
information technology employees working on our year 2000 program and some of
the Company's non-information technology employees who are devoting significant
time to the year 2000 program. Not all year 2000 costs and expenses are
incremental, because a portion of the costs and expenses are funded by a
reallocation of Company resources that we intend to redeploy after completion of
our year 2000 program activities.
Business Continuity and Contingency Planning
- --------------------------------------------
We continue the process of identifying the reasonably likely year 2000 problem
failures that we could experience with the goal of revising, to the extent
practical, our existing business continuity and contingency plans to address the
internal and external issues specific to those problems. Thus far, we have
focused as planned on reviewing our critical business processes. We believe we
have identified the substantial majority of the potential material problem
failures with respect to those critical processes, and we have documented
strategies for mitigating the associated risk. We expect to revise our existing
business continuity and contingency plans by June 1999 to reflect those
strategies. The strategies and supporting plans, which are intended to enable us
to continue to operate, include performing certain processes manually, repairing
or obtaining replacement systems, changing suppliers, and reducing or suspending
certain non-critical aspects of our operations. However, we believe that, due to
the widespread nature of potential year 2000 problems and our dynamic business
growth, the contingency
9
planning process must be ongoing as we continue to monitor year 2000
developments and our internal and external business environment.
Possible Consequences of Year 2000 Problems
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We believe that we have put in place the processes and are devoting the
resources necessary to achieve a level of readiness to meet our year 2000
challenges in a timely and appropriate manner. However, there can be no
assurance that our internal systems or the systems of others on which we rely
will be year 2000 ready in a timely and appropriate manner or that our
contingency plans or the contingency plans of others on which we rely will
mitigate the effects of year 2000 problem failures. Currently, we believe the
most reasonably likely worst case scenario would be a sustained, concurrent
failure of multiple critical systems (internal and external) that support our
operations. While we do not expect that scenario to occur, that scenario if it
occurs could, even despite the successful execution of our business continuity
and contingency plans, result in the reduction or suspension of a material
portion of our operations and accordingly have a material adverse effect on our
business and financial condition.
The preceding "Year 2000 Information" discussion contains various forward-
looking statements that represent our beliefs or expectations regarding future
events. When used in the "Year 2000 Information" discussion, the words
"believes," "expects," "estimates," "plans," "goals," and similar expressions
are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements
include, without limitation, our expectations as to when we will complete the
identification and assessment, remediation planning, remediation, and testing
activities of our year 2000 program as well as our year 2000 contingency
planning; our estimated cost of achieving year 2000 readiness; and our belief
that our internal systems and equipment will be year 2000 ready in a timely and
appropriate manner. All forward-looking statements involve a number of risks
and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from
the projected results. Factors that may cause those differences include
availability of information technology resources; customer demand for our
products and services; continued availability of materials, services, and data
from our suppliers; the ability to identify and remediate all date sensitive
lines of computer code and to replace embedded computer chips in affected
systems and equipment; the failure of others to timely achieve appropriate year
2000 readiness; and the actions or inaction of governmental agencies and others
with respect to year 2000 problems.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
The management's discussion and analysis, and other portions of this Annual
Report, include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal
securities laws. These forward-looking statements include, among others,
statements concerning the Company's outlook for 1999, volume and pricing trends,
cost control measures and their results, year 2000 expense, effective income tax
rates, the Company's expectations as to funding its capital expenditures and
operations during 1999, and other statements relative to future plans and
strategies. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current
expectations and are based upon currently available data. Actual results are
subject to future events, risks and uncertainties which could materially impact
performance from that expressed or implied in these statements.
Equifax expects to post another year of record financial performance in 1999.
To accomplish this goal, Equifax must successfully continue to implement its
strategy of expanding and leveraging its core businesses in markets where it
holds a substantial market share while positioning itself to exploit
opportunities in the credit economies worldwide. Equifax expects to achieve
these results by growing through global expansion, acquisitions, value-added
products and services, sales to customers in new and growing industries, and new
distribution channels. The Company will also need to continue its focus on cost
containment.
Important factors that either individually or in the aggregate could cause
actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, the following: a significant change
in the growth rate of the overall U.S. economy, such that consumer spending and
related consumer debt are materially impacted; a material decline or change in
the marketing techniques of credit card issuers; unexpected pricing pressure
above and beyond the levels experienced in the last several years; a significant
reversal of the trend toward credit card use increasing as a percentage of
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total consumer expenditures; the Company's realization of cost control and
synergies from integration of acquisitions at levels lower than expected; risks
associated with investments and operations in foreign countries, including
regulatory environments, exchange rate fluctuations, and local political,
social, and economic factors; the extent to which the Company will continue its
successful development and marketing of new products and services to existing
and new industries; material changes in regulatory environments; the Company
incurring higher than expected costs to achieve, or not achieving, "year 2000"
readiness, or the failure of Company vendors or customers to timely achieve
"year 2000" readiness, in a manner that has a material adverse impact on the
business, operations, or financial results of the Company; a drastic negative
change in market conditions; or other unforeseen difficulties.
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