Strength with Large Banks Boosts ACI

The payments software company ACI Worldwide Inc., making headway on its cost-cutting efforts, said Thursday that sales remain strong despite the struggles of its bank customers.

ACI swung to a third-quarter profit of $1.7 million from an $8.6 million loss a year earlier. Its revenue grew 28%, to $108.6 million, helped by term renewal deals and top-line revenue recognition from customers that have gone live with its software.

Per-share earnings of 5 cents missed the average analyst estimate by a penny.

Philip G. Heasley, ACI's president and chief executive, said the New York company has tried to remain disciplined in "an extremely volatile financial services environment."

"Even in a credit-constrained environment, it will continue to be critical for the payments side of the banks to achieve further productivity improvements," Mr. Heasley said during a conference call with analysts to discuss the earnings report.

ACI makes payments applications that banks around the world use for wire transfers, automated clearing house transactions, and card processing.

During the call, J. Ronald Totaro, an ACI senior vice president, displayed a slide on its Web site showing that of 11 large U.S. financial companies caught up in the financial crisis, all but one use ACI systems. It also showed that all the major banks involved in the ongoing wave of bank consolidation, both buyers and sellers, are its customers.

"What this implies is our large banking customers are growing even bigger," Mr. Totaro said. "Any software that aids in moving money around is a highly relevant tool in these economic times."

Scott Behrens, ACI's principal financial officer, said that under ACI's bookkeeping policies, it keeps track of sales and backlog until the customers go live, when it begins to recognize the revenue under generally accepted accounting principles.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Bank technology
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER