Heartland posts 4Q loss on settlement costs

PRINCETON, N.J.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. on Thursday posted a fourth-quarter loss and missed Wall Street expectations as it booked charges to settle claims over a data breach.

The company, which processes credits card payments, also declared a quarterly dividend of 1 cent per share payable March 15 to shareholders of record on March 5.

For the three months ending Dec. 31, the company said it lost $9.6 million, or 26 cents per share. That compared to a profit of $8 million, or 21 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

The results included charges of $23.7 million related to settlement offers over a data breach in late 2008. The money went to Visa credit and debit card issuers to cover losses incurred after hackers installed spying software on Heartland's computer network.

Excluding one-time charges, the company earned 16 cents per share for the quarter. On that basis, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 20 cents per share.

Quarterly revenue was $420 million, compared to $385.9 million the same time last year. Transaction processing volume for small and mid-sized merchants was $14.8 billion, also up 5 percent from a year ago.

Stock-based compensation in 2009 rose to $4.5 million, up from $1.5 million in 2008.

For the full year, Heartland said it lost $51.8 million, or $1.38 per share, on revenue of $1.65 billion. That compared to a profit of $41.9 million, or $1.08 per share, on revenue of $1.54 billion in 2008.

Heartland shares fell 44 cents, or nearly 3 percent, to $14.96 in afternoon trading.