Talx Accelerates Growth at Equifax

Snapping up Talx last year not only gave credit reporting specialist Equifax an entrance into the red-hot HR software arena, it immediately fired up Equifax’s financial results.

Atlanta-based Equifax acquired Talx in May 2007 in a deal valued at $1.4 billion. Talx, which provides a range of software and services including onboarding tools, contributed to just slightly over six months of Equifax’s annual results for 2007. Even so, TALX represented 12 percentage points of the company’s overall 19 percent revenue growth in 2007. Talx generated $179.4 million in operating revenue for the year, or about 10 percent of the overall Equifax operating revenue of $1.8 billion.

Talx produced $29.3 million in operating income for Equifax last year, or 6 percent of the company’s $486.2 million in operating income. Net income at Equifax last year was $272.7 million, a slight drop from $274.5 million in 2006.

The foray into employment services helps Equifax diversify from its traditional business of providing consumer information products to businesses in the United States. That market niche has been hit by the U.S. housing downturn and economic slowdown. Equifax’s U.S. Consumer Information Solutions division, which includes consumer credit reporting and scoring and mortgage reporting, saw virtually no growth in operating revenue in 2007. The USCIS unit accounted for 63 percent of the company’s consolidated revenue in 2006. That figure dropped to 53 percent in 2007.

Equifax expected a quick boost from Talx, citing its rapid growth when announcing the acquisition last year. For the last nine months of 2006, Talx’s revenue climbed 33 percent year over year to $197 million.