ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of
operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial
statements and related notes included elsewhere in this report. References in
this section to "International Card Establishment, Inc.," the "Company," "we,"
"us," and "our" refer to International Card Establishment, Inc. and our direct
and indirect subsidiaries on a consolidated basis unless the context indicates
otherwise.
This interim report contains forward looking statements relating to our
Company's future economic performance, plans and objectives of management for
future operations, projections of revenue mix and other financial items that are
based on the beliefs of, as well as assumptions made by and information
currently known to, our management. The words "expects, intends, believes,
anticipates, may, could, should" and similar expressions and variations thereof
are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The cautionary statements
set forth in this section are intended to emphasize that actual results may
differ materially from those contained in any forward looking statement.
Our Management, Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") is provided as a supplement to
our financial statements to help provide an understanding of our financial
condition, changes in financial condition and results of operations. The MD&A
section is organized as follows:
o EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, OVERVIEW AND DEVELOPMENT OF OUR BUSINESS. These sections
provide a general description of the Company's business, as well as recent
developments that we believe are important in understanding our results of
operations as well as anticipating future trends in our operations.
o CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES. This section provides an analysis of the
significant estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of
assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, and the related disclosure of
contingent assets and liabilities.
o RESULTS OF OPERATIONS. This section provides an analysis of our results of
operations for the three months ended June 30, 2008, compared to the three
months ended June 30, 2007, and the six months ended June 30, 2008,
compared to the six months ended June 30, 2007. A brief description of
certain aspects, transactions and events is provided, including
related-party transactions that impact the comparability of the results
being analyzed.
o LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES. This section provides an analysis of our
financial condition and cash flows as of June 30, 2008, and December 31,
2007.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Our strategy is to grow profitably by increasing our penetration of the
expanding small merchant marketplace for payment and Gift & Loyalty card based
products. We find these merchants through our Independent Sales Organization
("ISO") and agent channels of distribution and intend to make additional
acquisitions on an opportunistic basis in this fragmented segment of the
industry.
OVERVIEW
We are a rapidly growing provider of credit and debit card-based payment
processing services and Gift & Loyalty products to small merchants. As of June
30, 2008, we provided our services to numerous ISOs and thousands of merchants
located across the United States. Our payment processing services enable our
merchants to process traditional card-present, or swipe transactions, as well as
card-not-present transactions. A traditional card-present transaction occurs
whenever a cardholder physically presents a credit or debit card to a merchant
at the point-of-sale. Card-not-present transactions occur whenever the customer
does not physically present a payment card at the point-of-sale and may occur
over the Internet or by mail, fax or telephone.
DEVELOPMENT OF OUR BUSINESS
International Card Establishment, Inc. (the "Company") (formerly Summit World
Ventures, Inc.) was incorporated on December 18, 1986, under the laws of the
State of Delaware to engage in any lawful corporate activity, including, but not
limited to, selected mergers and acquisitions. Prior to July 28, 2000, we were
in the developmental stage and could be defined as a "shell" company, whose sole
purpose was to locate and consummate a merger or acquisition with a private
entity, and we did not have any operations. On July 18, 2003, we acquired
iNetEvents, Inc., a Nevada corporation and commenced operations. iNetEvents,
Inc., a Nevada corporation, was incorporated on February 3, 1999, and provided
Internet support and supply software for real time event/convention information
management.
On January 16, 2003, we entered into a Plan and Agreement of Reorganization with
International Card Establishment, Inc., a Nevada corporation and its
shareholders. International Card Establishment, Inc., a Nevada corporation, was
incorporated on July 26, 2002. As part of the acquisition, a reorganization in
the form of a reverse merger, International Card Establishment, Inc. became our
wholly-owned subsidiary, and there was a change of our control. Following the
International Card Establishment, Inc. acquisition we changed our corporate name
from iNetEvents, Inc. to International Card Establishment, Inc. and reverse
split our outstanding shares of common stock on a one for two share basis.
Effective September 8, 2004, we entered into a Plan and Agreement of
Reorganization with NEOS Merchant Solutions, Inc., a Nevada corporation and its
shareholders. Effective September 8, 2004, NEOS Merchant Solutions, Inc. became
our wholly owned subsidiary.
International Card Establishment, Inc. (the "Company"), a Nevada corporation, is
a provider of diversified products and services to the electronic transaction
processing industry, offering merchant accounts for the acceptance and
processing of credit and debit cards, as well as a proprietary "smart card"
based gift and loyalty program. The Company's Merchant Card Services division
establishes "merchant accounts" for businesses that enable those businesses to
accept credit cards, debit cards, and other forms of electronic payments from
their customers; supplies the necessary card readers and other point-of-sale
transaction systems; facilitates processing for the accounts; and, provides
e-commerce solutions. Through its NEOS subsidiary the Company also markets a
proprietary "Smart Card"-based system that enables merchants to economically
offer store-branded gift and loyalty cards - one of the fastest growing product
categories in the industry.
As used in these Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements, the terms the
"Company", "we", "us", "our" and similar terms refer to International Card
Establishment, Inc. and, unless the context indicates otherwise its consolidated
subsidiaries. The Companies subsidiaries include NEOS Merchant Services
("NEOS"), a Nevada corporation, which provides smart card loyalty programs in an
integrated vertical system for its customers, as well as other electronic
payment services (merchant services); International Card Establishment ("ICE"),
which provides electronic payment services (merchant services); and INetEvents,
Inc. ("INET"), a Nevada corporation, which has been dormant since 2005.
In the second quarter of 2008, we formed the LIFT Networks division, based in
Tampa, Florida, in a drive to accelerate revenue growth in our smart card and
credit card processing businesses.
LIFT Networks will expand on our current product lines by offering additional
services to our stored value Gift and Loyalty products; such as, Shop & Dine
Rewards, a unique multi-merchant community stored value cash/gift, loyalty and
rewards card; stored value MasterCard with payroll rewards; and the introduction
of a consumer credit card program - LIFT Revolution.
CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The methods, estimates and judgments we use in applying our accounting policies
have a significant impact on the results we report in our financial statements,
which we discuss under the heading "Results of Operations" following this
section of our MD&A. Some of our accounting policies require us to make
difficult and subjective judgments, often as a result of the need to make
estimates of matters that are inherently uncertain. Our most critical accounting
estimates include the assessment of recoverability of long-lived assets and
intangible assets, which impacts operating expenses when we impair assets or
accelerate their amortization or depreciation.
We believe the following critical accounting policies reflect our more
significant estimates and assumptions used in the preparation of our
consolidated financial statements:
ALLOWANCE FOR DOUBTFUL ACCOUNTS
The Company estimates its accounts receivable risks and provides allowances for
doubtful accounts accordingly. The Company believes that its credit risk for
accounts receivable is limited because of its large number of customers and the
relatively small account balances for most of its customers. Also, the Company's
customers are dispersed across different business and geographic areas. The
Company evaluates the adequacy of the allowance for doubtful accounts on a
periodic basis. The evaluation includes historical loss experience, length of
time receivables are past due, adverse situations that may affect a customer's
ability to repay and prevailing economic conditions. The Company makes
adjustments to its allowance if the evaluation of allowance requirements differs
from the actual aggregate reserve. This evaluation is inherently subjective and
estimates may be revised as more information becomes available.
REVENUE AND COST RECOGNITION
Substantially all of our revenues are generated from fees charged to merchants
for card-based payment processing services. We typically charge these merchants
a bundled rate, primarily based upon the merchant's monthly charge volume and
risk profile. Our fees principally consist of discount fees, which are a
percentage of the dollar amount of each credit or debit transaction. We charge
all merchants higher discount rates for card-not-present transactions than for
card-present transactions in order to compensate for the higher risk of
underwriting these transactions. We derive the balance of our revenues from a
variety of fixed transaction or service fees, including fees for monthly minimum
charge volume requirements, statement fees, annual fees and fees for other
miscellaneous services, such as handling chargebacks. We recognize discounts and
other fees related to payment transactions at the time the merchants'
transactions are processed. We recognize revenues derived from service fees at
the time the service is performed. Related interchange and assessment costs are
also recognized at that time.
We follow the requirements of EITF 99-19, "Reporting Revenue Gross as a
Principal Versus Net as an Agent", in determining our revenue reporting.
Generally, where we have merchant portability, credit risk and ultimate
responsibility for the merchant, revenues are reported at the time of sale on a
gross basis equal to the full amount of the discount charged to the merchant.
This amount includes interchange paid to card-issuing banks and assessments paid
to credit card associations pursuant to which such parties receive payments
based primarily on processing volume for particular groups of merchants.
Interchange fees are set by Visa and MasterCard and are based on transaction
processing volume and are recognized at the time transactions are processed.
GOODWILL AND INTANGIBLES
Since 2005, we capitalize intangible assets such as the purchase of merchant and
gift & loyalty accounts from portfolio acquisitions (i.e., the right to receive
future cash flows related to transactions of these applicable merchants) and
amortize accounts at the time of attrition. In keeping with the provisions of
FASB Statement No. 142, "Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets" ("SFAS 142"), we
also hire an outside firm to complete an annual valuation to determine any
impairment recognized in current earnings.
FAIR VALUE ACCOUNTING
In September 2006, the FASB issued FASB Statement No. 157, "Fair Value
Measurements" ("SFAS 157"). SFAS 157 defines fair value, establishes a framework
for measuring fair value in generally accepted accounting principles, and
expands disclosures about fair value measurements. The provisions of FAS 157
were adopted January 1, 2008. In February 2008, the FASB staff issued Staff
Position No. 157-2 "Effective Date of FASB Statement No. 157" ("FSP SFAS
157-2"). FSP SFAS 157-2 delayed the effective date of SFAS 157 for nonfinancial
assets and nonfinancial liabilities, except for items that are recognized or
disclosed at fair value in the financial statements on a recurring basis (at
least annually). The provisions of FSP SFAS 157-2 are effective for the
Company's fiscal year beginning January 1, 2009.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30, 2008 COMPARED TO THE
THREE MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30, 2007
Results of operations consist of the following:
JUNE 30, 2008 JUNE 30, 2007 $ CHANGE % CHANGE
Net Revenues $ 1,946,234 $ 2,253,386 $ (307,152) (14%)
Cost of Revenues 1,252,792 1,435,525 (182,733) (13%)
________________________________________________________
Gross Profit 693,442 817,861 (124,419) (15%)
Operating, General and
Administrative Costs 619,922 1,063,966 (444,044) (42%)
________________________________________________________
Net Operating Income (Loss) $ 73,520 $ (246,105) $ 319,625 (130%)
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Net revenues decreased by $307,152 from $2,253,386 for the three months ended
June 30, 2007 to $1,946,234 for the three months ended June 30, 2008 because of
the decrease in residuals due to attrition of the merchant portfolio and reduced
sales. Our sales have decreased due to lower volume from instituting tighter
controls on merchant account acquisitions.
The costs associated with the merchant account services decreased by
approximately 13% or $182,733 primarily due to the decrease in residuals paid
out due to attrition of the merchant portfolio, a $150,000 reduction in costs
associated with First Data Resources ("FDR") residuals due to attrition of the
merchant credit card portfolio, reduced inventory costs due to reduced sales and
a $15,000 reduction in telemarketing expenses.
General and administrative costs decreased by approximately $444,000 from
$1,063,966 for the three months ended June 30, 2007 to $619,923 for the three
months ended June 30, 2008, due primarily to the reduction of bad debt, decrease
in amortization and elimination of depreciation expense, since our assets are
fully depreciated. Furthermore, we reduced our workforce significantly, thereby,
reducing our payroll obligations. Finally, several processing expenses, such as
telephone bills and merchant discount fees, that had been reported as general
and administrative costs in the second quarter of 2007 were reclassified into
the cost of revenues at year end in 2007. In the second quarter of 2008, those
expenses were recognized as part of the cost of sales.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30, 2008 COMPARED TO THE SIX
MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30, 2007
Results of operations consist of the following:
JUNE 30, 2008 JUNE 30, 2007 $ CHANGE % CHANGE
Net Revenues $ 3,886,913 $ 4,767,382 $ (880,469) (18%)
Cost of Revenues 2,487,877 3,098,574 (610,697) (20%)
________________________________________________________
Gross Profit 1,399,036 1,668,808 (269,772) (16%)
Operating, General and
Administrative Costs 1,308,930 2,087,898 (778,968) (37%)
________________________________________________________
Net Operating Income (Loss) $ 90,106 $ (419,090) $ 509,196 (122%)
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Net revenues decreased by $880,469 from $4,767,382 for the six months ended June
30, 2007 to $3,886,913 for the six months ended June 30, 2008 because of the
decrease in residuals due to attrition of both merchant and gift portfolios and
reduced sales. Our sales have decreased due to lower volume by instituting
tighter controls on merchant account acquisitions.
The costs associated with the merchant account services decreased by
approximately 20% or $610,697 primarily due to the decrease in residuals paid
out due to attrition of the merchant portfolio, a $335,000 reduction in costs
associated with First Data Resources ("FDR") residuals due to attrition of the
merchant credit card portfolio and reduced inventory costs due to reduced sales.
General and administrative costs decreased by approximately $779,000 from
$2,087,898 for the six months ended June 30, 2007 to $1,308,930 for the six
months ended June 30, 2008, due primarily to the reduction of bad debt, decrease
in amortization and elimination of depreciation expense, since our assets are
fully depreciated. Furthermore, we reduced our workforce significantly; thereby,
reducing our payroll obligations. Finally, several processing expenses, such as
telephone bills and merchant discount fees, that had been reported as general
and administrative costs in the second quarter of 2007 were reclassified into
the cost of revenues at year end in 2007. Since January 1, 2008, those expenses
were recognized as part of the cost of sales.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
We are currently seeking to expand our merchant services offerings in bankcard
and gift and loyalty; however, we do not believe that our efforts to expand our
current lines of business will result in substantial increases in operating
expenses or significant reductions in earnings. Our most recent expansion, the
LIFT Networks division, is completely self-sufficient and has not materially
increased our operating, general or administrative expenses. We do not
anticipate significant fluctuations in capital expenditures or expenses relating
to this new division throughout the remainder of 2008. In addition, we are
investigating additional business opportunities and potential acquisitions;
accordingly we will require additional capital to complete the expansion and to
undertake any additional business opportunities.
JUNE 30, 2008 DECEMBER 31, 2007 $ CHANGE % CHANGE
Cash $ 145,639 $ 126,149 $ 19,490 15%
Accounts Payable and Accrued Expenses $ 678,153 $ 619,375 $ 58,778 9%
Accounts Receivable, net $ 42,462 $ 27,059 $ 15,403 57%
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We have financed our operations during the year primarily through sales, the
collection of accounts receivable, the use of our line of credit, and the use of
cash on hand. As of June 30, 2008, we had total current liabilities of
$1,431,038 compared to $1,668,570 as of December 31, 2007. The decrease in
current liabilities is primarily the result of paying down Accounts Payable.
Cash increased 15% from $126,149 at December 31, 2007, to $145,639 at June 30,
2008, because of a decreased demand on cash due to the paying down of accounts
payable and debt.
As of June 30, 2008, our accounts receivable, net, increased to $42,462 compared
to $27,059 at December 31, 2007. The relating allowance for doubtful accounts
decreased from $225,425 at December 31, 2007, to $188,629 as of June 30, 2008,
because of continued aggressive collection of old receivables.
We had no equity issuances in the second quarter of 2008.