Earnings Decline 20% at CheckFree

ATLANTA – Electronic bill payments provider CheckFree Corp. reported a 20% drop in earnings for its fiscal third quarter yesterday, as higher expenses ate into the company’s bottom line for the period. Net income for the third quarter was $30 million, or 33 cents a share, down from $37.7 million, or 40 cents a share, for the same period last year. Third quarter revenues were up less than 2% to $230.2 million, but third quarter expenses were up 4% to $185.6 million. For the first nine months of the year CheckFree reported a 1% decline in net income to $96.5 million, or $1.09 a share. Revenues for the first three quarters grew by 6% to $696 million. Thel slowdown in earnings comes as CheckFree is completing two acquisitions, of Carreker Corp. and Corillian Corp.