CheckFree Swings To TheBlack

ATLANTA - (08/06/04) -- CheckFree Corp., which bills itselfas the leader in electronic bill payment services, reported aprofit for its fiscal fourth quarter ended July 31, of $11.4million, or 12 cents a share, compared to a loss of $17 million, or19 cents a share, for the same period last year. The profitablequarter, the second in a row for CheckFree, enabled the company tobreak into the black for the fiscal year, for the first time ever,to the tune of $10.5 million, or 11 dents a share. This compares toa loss of $52.2 million, or 59 cents a share, for the prior year.CheckFree said revenues climbed a strong 11% for the fourth quarterto $160 million, and by 10% for the year to $606 million. Fourthquarter highlights included CheckFree's acquisition of AmericanPayment Systems, Inc., which operates a chain of check paymentstores.