Financial Astrology of Equifax Inc.

FINANCIAL ASTROLOGY

First Trade Date for Equifax Inc.

Company Name	First Trade Date (yyyy-mm-dd)
Equifax Inc.	1971-05-11

Company Name	Symbol
Equifax Inc.	EFX
History and Business of Company (this information may include date of incorporation)
We were founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1899 and have been known as Equifax Inc. since 1975. We have been publicly owned since 1965, listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 1971, and are a member of the S&P 500. We collect, organize and manage numerous types of credit, financial, public record, demographic, and marketing information regarding individuals and businesses. This information originates from a variety of sources including financial or credit granting institutions, which provide loan and accounts receivable information; governmental entities, which provide public records of bankruptcies, liens, and judgments; and consumers who participate in surveys and submit warranty registration cards from which we gather demographic and marketing information. Our proprietary databases contain information on approximately 400 million consumers and businesses worldwide. The original data is compiled and processed utilizing our proprietary software and systems and distributed to customers in a variety of user-friendly and value-add formats. Our products and services include consumer credit information, information database management, marketing information, business credit information, decisioning and analytical tools, and identity verification services which enable businesses to make informed decisions about extending credit or service, managing portfolio risk, and develop marketing strategies for consumers and small businesses. We also enable consumers to manage and protect their financial affairs through a portfolio of products that we sell directly via the Internet and in various hard-copy formats. We operate in 13 countries: North America (the United States and Canada), Europe (the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Portugal) and Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Peru, and Uruguay). We serve customers across a wide range of industries, including the financial services, retail, telecommunications, utilities, automotive, brokerage, healthcare, and insurance industries, as well as state and federal governments. Our revenue stream is highly diversified with our largest customer providing less than 3% of total revenues. In December 2003, President Bush signed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, or FACTA, into law amending the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA. FACTA makes the state law pre-emption provisions of the FCRA permanent, so we, and our customers, can continue to operate uniformly nationally. Among other things, FACTA requires us also on an annual basis to provide free credit reports to consumers upon request. In developing the implementation rules that will be issued during this year, we are working closely with the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC. The effective date for the free report requirement is December 2004. As the FTC rules are finalized, we will be better able to quantify the cost of compliance. In anticipation, we are taking substantive action to determine ways to offset these costs, including cost reductions, offsets and realization on additional marketing opportunities caused by heightened consumer awareness. In 2003, we continued the strategy of growing our credit data franchise through the acquisition of affiliates. During the 12 months of 2003, we acquired the credit files, contractual rights to territories, and customer relationships and related businesses of four independent credit reporting agencies in the United States and one in Canada, all of which house consumer information on our system. Additionally, in April 2003, we completed the purchase of a small eMarketing business for $10.0 million. We acquired all of these businesses for $42.9 million primarily in cash, allocating $19.6 million of the purchase price to goodwill, $15.5 million to purchased data files, and $6.2 million to non-compete agreements. The results of operations for these acquisitions have been included in the consolidated statement of income from the date of acquisition, and have not been material. During 2003, we renamed Naviant, "Equifax eMarketing Solutions, Inc." restructured the products and services that it offers and completed consolidation into Direct Marketing Services. 2003 provided many challenges for our eMarketing services business. During the year, eMarketing experienced difficulty in aligning operations with revenue. In the second and third quarters of 2003 we described the extent of these difficulties and the actions we were taking to restructure and reposition the business. In the fourth quarter of 2003, after efforts to right-size our eMarketing business by reducing headcount and eliminating certain products, we determined, (see Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements for a discussion of how we review assets for impairment in our business environment), that certain of our amortizable intangible assets, fixed assets, and indefinite lived assets of our eMarketing business were impaired. As described in our discussion in Note 6, we wrote-down the identifiable assets of our eMarketing business to their estimated remaining fair value. The total asset impairment charge for eMarketing assets totaled $22.6 million, leaving assets, excluding goodwill, of $10.1 million, of which $3.9 million is for trade accounts receivable, net of a $2.4 million allowance for doubtful accounts. Additionally, we further reduced headcount, consolidated multiple locations, and consolidated/eliminated products with limited growth, resulting in restructuring charges of $3.3 million, also for the eMarketing business. To make the 2003 operating environment even more challenging, the eMarketing products and services were negatively impacted by increased business and legislative pressure to significantly reduce or eliminate spam. In December 2003, President Bush signed the CAN SPAM Act which is the first anti-spam legislation passed by the U.S. Congress. It is anticipated that this legislation will benefit the deliverability of consumer-requested email, which is the basis of our eMarketing services. Additionally, this legislative action should remove some uncertainty concerning Federal government actions that existed during 2003. We believe that the asset write-downs, personnel reductions, facility consolidations and Federal spam legislation allow for an efficient operating structure for future periods. On December 30, 2003, we (and Naviant) served a Demand for Arbitration alleging, among other things, that the shareholder sellers of Naviant had breached various warranties and representations concerning information furnished to us in connection with the acquisition. The Arbitration Demand seeks rescission of our Naviant purchase or, in the alternative, seeks recovery of monetary damages on various grounds. The Arbitration is in its early stages and the issues have not yet been joined. We cannot predict at this time the probable outcome of this matter. The commercial business in Spain has been classified as held for sale since the third quarter of 2002. We have negotiated with several prospective buyers over that time. In December 2003, we began discussions with a new prospective buyer that in January 2004 agreed to purchase the business. During 2003, the commercial business in Spain was written down an additional $8.6 million to reflect the impact of the offer on the carrying value of the discontinued operations. We have reviewed the terms and conditions of this contract to purchase the business, and have concluded that the December 31, 2003, provision for the estimated loss on disposal is adequate.

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