IDC First-Period Revenue Climbed 18% to $117.6 Million

Interactive Data Corp. reported an 18% rise in first-quarter revenues, although net income was about flat. The company – whose FT Interactive Data is the market share leader in end-of-day pricing services – posted sales of $117.6 million for the first quarter, which represented a 2.2% rise net of new acquisitions and exchange rate fluctuations. The company bought the market data client base of the former PC Quote, and the Comstock data feed business from McGraw-Hill’s Standard & Poor’s Corp. The FT Interactive Data business generated revenue of $79.3 million, up 5.8% or 2.3% net of currency impact. Its North American business was up 7.8%, Europe down 1.1% and Asia roughly unchanged. Stuart Clark, president and chief executive said IDC’s sales growth came “in spite of a high level of cancellations. This had been expected in the first quarter due to the timing of a number of consolidations within our customer base. In addition, our growth was impacted by ongoing cost-containment initiatives by clients, and the previously announced closure of the Index Services business in Europe.” Clark added that “Spending by institutional customers has improved from last year at this time, and renewal rates remained at or above the 95% level.” Elsewhere, IDC reported progress in its infrastructure initiatives. “We continued to invest in our new data centre in Boxborough, Mass.,” Clark said. “We completed the facility’s build-out in January, and have since installed the equipment and network infrastructure…. Our goal of consolidating six data centres and ticker plants in the U.S. to two primary facilities is an important initiative.”