ATLANTA, July 17, 1998 -- -- Equifax Inc. today announced record second quarter results driven by continued double digit revenue growth, operating leverage and strong performance across all four operating groups.

• Revenue for the quarter ending June 30, 1998 of $393.5 million increased 14.7% over second quarter 1997.
• Operating income from continuing operations of $92.2 million increased 18.5% compared to the prior year period.
• Operating income margin from continuing operations was 23.4% versus 22.7% in second quarter 1997.
• Second quarter earnings per share from continuing operations (diluted), excluding a $.12 gain from the sale of a business unit in 1997, rose 20.7% to $.35 from $.29 in the second quarter of 1997.

Our second quarter results demonstrate the continued strong financial performance of this Company. For the past five and one-half years Equifax has turned in record setting results. "Once again this quarter, every operating group showed revenue and operating income growth," said Thomas F. Chapman, president and CEO. "What's particularly exciting about this quarter is our announcement of two brand new businesses, giving our Company new avenues for continued long-term growth. We continue to perform, innovate, and utilize our technology to enhance shareholder value."

On June 8, Equifax announced an alliance with IBM to develop and market services to help ensure safe and more secure transactions over the Internet and other networked environments. With this business alliance, Equifax will offer a broad range of digital certificate services on an outsourced basis to businesses to facilitate doing business on the Web for business to business; business to consumer; and intra-enterprise applications.

Equifax also announced last week the acquisition of The Decisioneering Group and with it, the establishment of a new business unit to deliver knowledge engineering. This new unit creates, offers and delivers world-class, strategic-level business and decision analytics and strategy across the banking, retail, manufacturing, telecommunications, utilities and insurance industries and government. The Decisioneering Group brings knowledge-based decision solutions to enterprises by "mining" a wide array of data and information about consumers, businesses, distribution channels, and products to more precisely define lifecycles and predict relationship development.

BUSINESS RESULTS

Payment Services which operates through Card Services and Check Services increased revenue 14.6% to $121.0 million. Card Services is the leader in providing third party full-service processing solutions to credit unions and independent banks in the U.S. The revenue increase in Payment Services was primarily led by growth in Card Services, with an increase in the number of customers, cardholder accounts and transactions processed. Operating income of $22.6 million increased 22.2% primarily as a result of the substantial operating leverage from the integration of the CSG acquisition, as well as continued growth of the Card Services business.

For the quarter, revenue in North American operations of $195.4 million increased 7.2% versus second quarter last year and 10.0% when normalized for the prior year NDS divestiture. Revenue performance benefitted from growth in U.S. Information Services, with increased sales from the finance, telecommunications and utilities industries as well as growth in risk management (Equifax's unique outsourcing business) and real estate related services. Operating income of $69.4 million increased 10.2% versus second quarter 1997.

Equifax Europe revenue of $56.7 million increased 31.4% versus second quarter 1997, with improvement across all businesses, particularly Motor Solutions, Retail Solutions and Communication Solutions. Operating income of $6.0 million increased 27.7%.

SECOND QUARTER EARNINGS

Revenue in Equifax Latin America was $18.0 million with much of the growth from the consolidation of results in Argentina due to the year end acquisition of a controlling interest. Operating income was $4.3 million in the second quarter of 1998 versus $2.6 million one year ago. Equifax's presence in Latin America has increased substantially in the past year as it continues to look for additional growth opportunities in this dynamic market.

Equifax's worldwide knowledge-based information, transaction processing, consulting and software businesses are designed to bring buyers and sellers together, thus changing the shape of global commerce. Equifax serves the banking, financial, retail, credit card, telecommunications/utilities, automotive and health care industries and government. It is a leading supplier of business information solutions in Canada, the UK and Latin America. Equifax operates in 17 countries with sales in more than 40 countries. Founded in 1899 in Atlanta, Equifax (NYSE:EFX) today has about 12,000 employees around the world. Revenues for the 12 months ended June 30, 1998, were nearly $1.5 billion. Visit the company's Internet web site at http://www.equifax.com.
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Statements in this press release that relate to future plans, objectives, expectations, performance, events and the like are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Future events, risks and uncertainties, individually or in the aggregate, could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Those factors could include worldwide and U.S. economic conditions, changes in demand for the company’s products and services, risks associated with the integration of acquisitions and other investments, and other factors discussed in the "forward-looking information" section in the management’s discussion and analysis included in the company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1997.