ST. PAUL, Minn. – Check printer Deluxe Corp. announced yesterday that second quarter earnings rose 21% to $27.l8 million on the strength of its acquisition of Custom Direct Inc., even as its core check business continued to decline.
Revenues for the company’s core financial services operations, which sells checks through credit unions and banks, continued to decline, falling 2% during the second quarter to $98.2 million. And revenues for the company’s direct rose by $16.9 million for the quarter, all of it because of the Custom Direct acquisition.
The company’s small business operation reported a $2.1 million rise in second quarter revenues to $193.2 million.
Total revenues, fueled by the Custom Direct acquisition, rose $3% for the quarter to $348 million.
For the first six months of the fiscal year Deluxe reported a 2% increase in revenues to $683.1 million, and a 66% surged in earning to $67 million.
