First Data Explores Sale of Credit Card Issuing Unit

First Data Corp. today announced that it engaged Morgan Stanley to assist the company in exploring various options for its U.S. credit card issuing business. “This business continues to dampen the growth rates of the entire company, and maximizing shareholder value over the long term remains our top priority,” said Charlie Fote, chairman and chief executive officer.

Preliminary 2006 forecasts indicate that revenue growth and operating margin for Western Union are expected to be in-line with 2005. Merchant Services is expected to achieve low to mid-teen revenue growth with mid to high single-digit profit growth, excluding the impact of integration expense in 2005, and on a GAAP basis, profit growth is expected to be in the mid to high-teens. Merchant’s targeted profit growth will be impacted by the company’s plans to reinvest in product and sales initiatives. Based on the timing of any actions within the Card segment, Card is expected to continue to negatively impact First Data’s consolidated growth rates through the middle of 2006. Consistent with previous years, full-year revenue and EPS guidance for 2006 will be discussed at the January investor conference.

Relative to the fourth quarter of this year, when including October segment operating results and with the delays in closing previously announced acquisitions, the company now anticipates earnings per share for 2005 will be in the range of $2.14 to $2.16. Final fourth quarter results will be heavily influenced by consumer spending during the Thanksgiving to Christmas season.