eFunds Corp. expects to post a modest fourth-quarter loss for its prepaid card division.
The Scottsdale, Ariz., provider of risk management, electronic payment, and other outsourcing products and services said last week that it expects to report about $552 million of full-year revenue, as well as earnings of about $1.15 a share.
The company also expects to report that its prepaid division generated about $85 million of full-year revenue.
The full-year earnings report is scheduled for Feb. 21.
"Even though the overall level of activity with respect to our prepaid operations remains quite positive, we are obviously disappointed that this unit failed to perform up to our expectations during our most recent quarter," Paul Walsh, eFunds' chairman and chief executive, said in the press release. However, "we remain very optimistic about the fundamental near- and long-term prospects for this business."
In July 2005, eFunds bought the prepaid card company WildCard Systems Inc. for $228.8 million and renamed it eFunds Prepaid Solutions. The division had mixed results last year; it reported operating losses of $3 million for the first quarter, and $5.7 million for the second quarter.
For the third quarter, eFunds reported that revenue from its prepaid division rose 20% from a year earlier, to $23.7 million, though it broke even on ongoing integration costs.
