Profits Inch Up at Deluxe

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Check printer Deluxe Corp. yesterday reported net income for its third quarter rose slightly to $32.2 million, or 62 cents a share, even as revenues slid 2%. Third quarter earnings last year were $31.2 million, or 61 cents a share. Most of this year’s gain was due to a lower effective tax rate than last year. The company, displaced earlier this year as the nation’s largest check printer, said revenue in its core check printing business stabilized, but its recently acquired small business forms operation reported an $8.3 million decline in sales for the quarter. Revenues for both its financial institutions checks business and personal checks business also declined slightly, by $700,000 and $500,000, respectively. Deluxe had been the largest U.S. check printer for many years, but was displaced earlier this year when M&F Worldwide, an investment vehicle for corporate raider Ronald Perelman, acquired John H. Harland Co. and combined its check printing business with Clarke American, which M&F had acquired in 2005.