First Data ended the fourth quarter and all of 2010 with a loss, but the payments company said its results improved compared with a year ago.
The privately held Sandy Springs-based firm said it lost $179.2 million in the fourth quarter, a 51-percent improvement over the quarter a year ago.
Quarterly revenue rose 6 percent to $2.73 billion, primarily from increases in debit-related fees and services to merchants, a result of “modest U.S. economic growth,” the company said.
For 2010, First Data lost $1.02 billion, a 6-percent improvement from $1.09 billion in 2009.
“We are encouraged by the solid growth in our U.S. merchant acquiring business driven by an improving economy and related consumer spending,” First Data’s new CEO Jonathan J. Judge said in a news release. The company, he said, is focusing on revenue growth domestically and in Latin America and Asia.
Full year revenue was $10.4 billion, up 11 percent, thanks largely to an alliance with Bank of America and increases in debit network fees, the company said.
International revenue was up 3 percent. The company also said it has $2 billion in unrestricted liquidity.
During the quarter, First Data extended some of its debt. The company exchanged $6 billion in debt securities due in 2015 for notes due in 2021 and 2022.
In January, First Data announced it had consolidated its executive suite and also signed a deal with Kohl’s Department Stores to process payment for the retailer’s branded credit card.
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