Losses Mount at Cardtronics

HOUSTON – Cardtronics Inc., which has emerged as one of the most important providers of electronic funds services for credit unions, said Friday it fell into the red for its second quarter to the tune of $5.6 million, compared to a profit of $769,000 for the second quarter last year. The company, in the process of acquiring 5,500 ATMs in 7-Eleven convenience stores connected to the CO-OP Financial Services network, attributed the second quarter loss to increases in selling, general, and administrative expenses, vault cash costs, as well as higher depreciation costs as it expanded its world-largest fleet of 30,000 ATMs to Mexico and the United Kingdom. Revenues rose 10% for the second quarter to $74 million. For the second quarter Cardtronics reported a decrease of 1% in average daily ATM transactions due to a decline in the average number of merchant-owned ATMs it operates in the U.S. For the first two quarters of the year, Cardtronics reported a 7% increase in revenues to $151.8 million, but a tripling of losses to $9 million, from $2.4 million of losses for the first half last year. Cardtronics is poised to connect 1,700 of its 7-Eleven ATMs, all Vcom self-service financial kiosks, to the Financial Service Centers Cooperative, the shared branching network for credit unions.