Equifax reported a 2 percent year-over-year revenue decline for the first quarter of 2019. It also announced the further costs it will be paying as the Atlanta-based credit reporting agency continues to clean up the mess left by hackers who accessed the data records of more than 143 million consumers, including personally identifiable information like Social Security numbers, drivers’ license numbers and credit card data.
The Q1 revenue came in at $846.1 million, which was also slightly below analyst estimates. The company posted a net loss attributable to Equifax of $555.9 million, which compared with a net income of $90.9 million in the first quarter of 2018.
According to Equifax CEO Mark W. Begor, the company continues “to make progress to resolve the litigation and regulatory matters related to the 2017 cybersecurity incident.” He said that during the first quarter of 2019 Equifax “took a $690 million charge that includes our estimate of losses we expect to incur in connection with a potential global resolution of the consumer class action cases and the investigations by certain federal and state regulators.”
Equifax has been scrambling since 2017 to regain the trust of customers in the wake of that data breach. Begor, who joined the company just a little more than a year ago, has said he has been consistently meeting with major customers in an effort to regain trust with them and rebuild their strong relationships.
The company’s Q1 2019 results also showed that revenue for its U.S. Information Services [USIS] business declined 3 percent year over year to $298.3 million. Online Information Solutions revenue declined 1 percent compared to the first quarter of 2018, while Mortgage Solutions revenue dropped 23 percent, and Financial Marketing Services increased 6 percent compared to the first quarter of 2018.
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