Profits Drop At First Data

DENVER - (07/19/05) -- Payments processor First Data Corp.said second quarter earning declined 16% to $391.9 million, or 50cents a share, partly due to a $31 million charge for integrationof its Concord EFS acquisition. The company also said it spent $304million in the quarter to repurchase 7.9 million of its commonshares. The parent of Western Union said first quarter revenuesgrew by 3% to $2.6 billion, fueled by the continued expansion ofits payment services (Western Union) operations, which reported a15% increase in revenues for the period. Revenues for merchantservices also grew, by 4%; while check verification revenues fell10% and card issuing services by 8%.