ChoicePoint to keep direct marketing business, lowers guidance

<p>ChoicePoint Inc. said Tuesday it no longer intends to sell its direct marketing business because it couldn't find someone willing to pay a fair price. Because of that decision and a previously announced accounting reclassification, the company lowered its full-year revenue and profit growth expectations.</p><p>The Alpharetta-based company, which collects, sells access to and analyzes consumers' personal information, had announced a plan in July to divest three businesses, including ChoicePoint Precision Marketing.</p><p>But Chief Executive Derek Smith said in a statement Tuesday that the company has "been unable to obtain a fair market price" for the marketing business "particularly given the recent downturn in one of our leading customer segments, the mortgage market." ChoicePoint Precision Marketing has about 670 employees and offices in Illinois, Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Georgia and North Carolina.</p><p>ChoicePoint said it remains in sales talks regarding the other two businesses it plans to divest. They are The Bode Technology Group, a forensic DNA unit with 94 employees in Springfield, Va., that has helped identify victims of the 2001 World Trade Center attack; and EquiSearch, a shareholder services unit with 38 employees in White Plains, N.Y.</p><p>It has said its decision to sell the businesses was part of a companywide strategic review.</p><p>The company said it will begin reporting the results of its marketing services segment in continuing operations, beginning with its fourth quarter results.</p><p>As a result, ChoicePoint now expects 2006 full-year internal revenue growth from continuing operations to be in the range of 3 percent to 4 percent, down from 4 percent to 6 percent it projected when it released its third-quarter results in October.</p><p>It said operating profit margins from continuing operations including certain ongoing and one-time expenses are projected to be roughly 12 percent to 13 percent for the full year, down from 23 percent to 24 percent it projected in October. It cited an accounting reclassification as the reason for the lower guidance.</p><p>ChoicePoint collects data on individuals, including Social Security numbers, real estate holdings and current and former addresses. It also offers businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations software technology and information designed to anticipate and respond to economic and physical risk, and analyzes information for the insurance sector. The company holds about 19 billion records.</p><p>A breach that was disclosed in February 2005 involved thieves posing as small business customers who gained access to ChoicePoint's database, possibly compromising the personal information of 163,000 Americans, according to the Federal Trade Commission.</p><p>ChoicePoint shares fell 29 cents to close at $37.12 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdcb30)</p>

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