Equifax profits rose 15 percent

Stronger credit card spending and car and home lending helped fuel double-digit profit growth at Equifax during the first quarter, the Atlanta-based credit-reporting service said Wednesday.

Equifax said first-quarter revenue at its U.S. consumer credit-checking business, its largest unit, jumped 17 percent compared to a year earlier, to $245 million, due to strong demand generated by consumer spending.

The company said most of its other business units also showed double-digit sales growth.

Overall, profits rose 15 percent, to $82.1 million, after excluding $19 million in gains from the sale of two businesses in January. Equifax said revenue for the first three months were up almost 12 percent, to $566.5 million.

Equifax’s weakest unit was its European, Latin American and Canadian operations, which saw 2 percent revenue growth during the quarter, to $123.7 million.

Equifax CEO Rick Smith said much of the firm’s growth has resulted from new products and other innovations in recent years.

“We have transformed this company dramatically,” he said.

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Russell Grantham

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