TSYS said its second-quarter profit fell 4 percent compared with a year earlier as a drop in the number of accounts cut into revenues from its core electronic payments business.

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• The numbers: The Columbus-based credit card processor said net income was $63.1 million, or 32 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30. The year-earlier profit was $65.7 million, or 33 cents a share. The results were lower than analysts' mean estimate of 33 cents.
• The reasons: TSYS's revenues rose 5 percent to $483.1 million from a year earlier, but the company's core payment processing business — half its revenues — fell 1 percent on a 15 percent decrease in the number of accounts on file.
• The future: TSYS Chief Executive Philip Tomlinson said in a press release that the company is lowering its financial guidance for the rest of the year, given the "greatly deteriorated" economic climate for its customers. He said TSYS expects full-year revenue to increase by 6-8 percent rather than the previous estimate of 7-9 percent. Earnings for 2008 are expected to grow 5-7 percent, to $1.27-$1.29 per share, rather than the previous range of 7-9 percent growth. Analysts had expected TSYS's net income to be about 35 cents per share in the third quarter and $1.35 for the year.

— Russell Grantham