Companies

• Lenders Extend TeleTechs Filing Deadline
  Teletech Holdings Inc. will have until March 31, 2008 to file its third quarter 2007 report in a deal worked out with its lenders KeyBank and Wells Fargo, the business process outsource provider reported in a filing yesterday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. TeleTech reported in November that it couldn’t deliver its 10-Q report for the period ending Sept. 30, 2007 until it completed a review of its stock option and other equity-based compensation grant practices. TeleTech said the review by its Audit Committee was then in its early stages, but that it could need to restate financial statements from 1999 into 2007, and incur non-cash compensation charges. The Englewood, Colo.-based firm is in danger of being delisted from the Nasdaq stock market for failure to file its quarterly report. TeleTech’s credit agreement with Keybank and Wells Fargo allows it to borrow up to $180 million. The two lenders have the authority to call off yesterday’s agreement if TeleTech defaults on the credit agreement, according to the SEC filing. TeleTech did release third quarter results in November in a report it labeled as “preliminary financial results.” Preliminary income was $25.9 million on revenues of $335.8 million, according to the report.
• Executive Change: Phil G. Davis II to TNB Card Services
  TNB Card Services has named Phil G. Davis II, a seasoned executive with nearly three decades of credit card industry experience, as first senior vice president. Davis joins the company at a time of high growth, and in his new role, he will enable TNB to continue to strengthen its operational capabilities and member services. At TNB, Davis is focusing on cardholder operations, including credit underwriting, member servicing, fraud, collections and recovery, and compliance. His appointment further demonstrates TNB’s commitment to delivering the strongest and most reliable fraud management expertise and member servicing to the credit union industry. Davis comes to TNB from Citigroup, where he was a senior vice president in the Citicorp Credit Services division. There he was responsible for building and directing the team that supported The Home Depot’s commercial credit business. He has also held executive positions in the card services division of Bank of America and the outsourcing division of NCO Financial Systems. “In addition to his extensive experience in the credit and payments arenas, Phil Davis brings strong management skills in risk control, compliance, and conversion management,” said Scott Wagner, executive vice president of TNB Card Services. “This will enhance our abilities to continue the strong growth of both TNB and our clients.” Davis has played an integral role in the credit industry. He was a charter member of the Bankruptcy Issues Council, which spearheaded bankruptcy reform, has served as a member of the National Foundation for Consumer Credit Advisory Council, and on the Board of Directors for the Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Virginia. A native of Virginia, Davis has a degree in management economics from Hampden-Sydney College.
• District Attorney Faces Possible Sanctions Over Debt Collection Case
  Arapahoe County (Colorado) district attorney Carol Chambers faces a three-day trial after she was accused of threatening a debt collection attorney with a grand jury investigation. The threatened attorney, Jonathan Steiner, is a lawyer for Central Credit Corp, a Colorado-based collection agency. Steiner was in the process of trying to recoup bad checks allegedly written by Englewood City Councilwoman Laurett Barrentine, a member of Arapahoe County's Republican Party. Barrentine claims to be the victim of identity theft, and not liable for the $320 dispute. Chambers thought she could be helpful. The complaint states that in January, Chambers called Steiner, identified herself as the district attorney, and said she had received several complaints about his collection agency. "I am looking at investigating this with the grand jury, and I'd like to hear your input first," Chambers said in the voice message. "I thought I was being threatened with an indictment, with a grand jury investigation. Like I said, to this day I still feel threatened," Steiner testified in court Monday. Chambers said earlier that the phone call was not a threat and when she mentioned a “grand jury investigation,” she was referring to various victims of identity theft and collection agencies that try to collect money from them. She said she was simply upset with the collections community — those who tried to collect debt from victims of identity theft — and not Steiner in particular. "I'm saying 'you' in your representative capacity, not 'you' as Mr. Jonathan Steiner. I did not know that he was an independent attorney," Chambers said. If found guilty of professional misconduct, Chambers could face discipline ranging from a reprimand to disbarment. The judge cannot remove her from her office but if she is disbared she could lose her job as Arapahoe County's district attorney.
• ChoicePoint Earning's Lower on Divestiture Charges
  For the third quarter of 2006, ChoicePoint Inc. reported total revenue from continuing operations of $246.7 million, representing growth of 4 percent, compared to $237.0 million for the third quarter of 2005. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations ("EPS") for the third quarter was $0.11, which included the following: $25.7 million ($0.31 per share), net of taxes, of asset impairment and related charges associated primarily with the planned disposal of additional non-strategic businesses incremental to the businesses already classified as discontinued operations, $3.1 million ($0.04 per share), net of taxes, of stock option expense under Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 123 (revised 2004), Share Based Payment ("FAS 123®"), and $0.5 million ($0.01 per share), net of taxes, for specific expenses related to the previously disclosed fraudulent data access. Excluding these charges, EPS would have been $0.46, a 4 percent increase over EPS excluding other operating charges for the comparable period of 2005. As part of its strategic review, in the quarter ended September 30, 2006 the Company recorded the charge described above of $25.7 million ($0.31 per share), net of taxes, primarily related to the proposed sale of additional smaller non-strategic businesses. While the Company has not yet met the criteria for classifying these businesses as discontinued operations under GAAP, current intentions and the receipt of indicative bids for these businesses require the recording of this charge in continuing operations at this time. As disclosed in the Company's press release of July 10, 2006, ChoicePoint announced plans to divest its Precision Marketing, Bode Technology Group and EquiSearch businesses as a result of its company-wide strategic review. During the third quarter of 2006, the Company recorded a non-cash charge of $132.9 million ($81.6 million after tax benefit) in discontinued operations to reduce the carrying value of goodwill and other assets related to these businesses in order to reflect the estimated net proceeds to be realized from selling these three businesses based on indicative bids received to date. This charge also includes $3.1 million net of taxes from the previously announced sale of Priority Data. Since announcing the decision on July 10, 2006 to divest these businesses, expressions of interest and specific preliminary offers to purchase have been received by the Company. While transactions have not yet been consummated and the Company has no definitive agreements to sell these businesses, GAAP requires recognition of the estimated impairment at this time. While these dispositions are not yet finalized and actual results may vary from these estimates, the charges recorded during this quarter reflect the completion of the current strategic review by the Company. After combining the results of continuing and discontinued operations, the Company incurred a net loss of $72.2 million ($0.86 per share) for the third quarter of 2006. Based on recent business and economic trends, ChoicePoint expects 2006 full year internal revenue growth from continuing operations to be in the range of 4 to 6 percent, with improving trends in the last quarter of 2006. Including the impact of acquisitions, total revenue growth is expected to be in the range of 5 to 7 percent for the full year 2006. Additionally, the Company expects operating profit margins from continuing operations to be approximately 26 to 27 percent for the full-year, excluding the impact discussed below of stock option expense, on-going legal expe