Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq:
INTU) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Prestwick
Services, a subsidiary of Prestwick Holdings a Sudbury, Mass. based
leader in payroll based billing and payment solutions for the workers’
compensation industry.
Traditional workers’ compensation plans involve large pre-payments based
on estimates, with the potential for substantial extra payments at
year-end audits. With the acquisition of Prestwick Services and its
TRUPAY™ technology, Intuit will open the platform that enables workers’
compensation insurance premiums to be calculated in real-time, based on
actual payroll, and will not require small business owners to switch
insurance carriers or agents.
For a small business owner, pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation has
several benefits, including:
-
Stronger Accuracy – Premiums are calculated every pay period instead
of estimated at the beginning of the year, so payments are adjusted as
employee changes occur, virtually eliminating surprise payments at
year end audits.
-
Available Cash flow - No more hefty lump sum pre-payments means more
flexibility in cash flow and paying only for changes as needed.
-
Convenience – Automatic collection of premiums means no extra legwork,
fewer late payments and one less thing on the to-do list.
“This transaction furthers our commitment to helping small businesses
manage every aspect of their business, so they can be free to focus on
doing what they really love,” said Ginny Lee, senior vice president and
general manager of Intuit’s Employee Management Solutions division. “We
are very pleased to be adding a team that brings deep insurance industry
experience as well as their robust TRUPAY technology platform. Together,
we look forward to providing more benefits to our small businesses
customers as we work to bring even more insurance carrier partners onto
the platform.”
The integration of Prestwick Services means more than one million Intuit
payroll customers will have access to flexible payment options from 15
top insurance carriers, without requiring a change to their existing
agent-client relationships.
When the transaction closes, Prestwick Services’ will become part of
Intuit’s Employee Management Solutions Division.
“Our drive has always been to make running a business simpler. Intuit’s
expertise in doing just that, coupled with our TRUPAY technology, will
enable workers’ compensation insurance carriers to better serve their
small business clients with flexible payment options while retaining the
benefits of existing client-agent relationships,” said Adam Black,
founder of Prestwick. “As part of Intuit, we’ll be able to benefit
millions of payroll customers by putting our technology into the hands
of a trusted brand that has a long history of innovation and delighting
customers.”
The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of
Intuit’s fiscal year 2014, which ends Jan. 31, and is subject to
customary closing conditions.
About Intuit Inc.
Intuit Inc. creates business and
financial management solutions that simplify the business of life for
small businesses, consumers and accounting professionals.
Its flagship products and services include QuickBooks®,
Quicken® and TurboTax®,
which make it easier to manage small
businesses and payroll
processing, personal finance,
and tax preparation and filing.
Mint.com provides a fresh, easy and
intelligent way for people to manage their money, while Demandforce®
offers marketing and communication tools for small businesses. ProSeries®
and Lacerte® are Intuit's
leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants.
Founded in 1983, Intuit had revenue of $4.2 billion in its fiscal year
2013. The company has approximately 8,000 employees with major offices
in the United States, Canada,
the United Kingdom, India
and other locations. More information can be found at www.intuit.com.
Cautions About Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
forecasts of Intuit’s future expected financial results; expectations
regarding growth from digital services and from current or future
products and services; expectations regarding the impact of acquisitions
on Intuit’s business; expectations regarding Intuit’s global strategy,
product launches and marketing campaigns and their impacts on Intuit’s
business; expectations regarding the amount and timing of any future
dividends and share repurchases; Intuit’s prospects for the business in
fiscal 2014; and all of the statements under the heading
“Forward-looking Guidance.”
Because these forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause our actual
results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in the
forward-looking statements. These factors include, without limitation,
the following: inherent difficulty in predicting consumer behavior;
difficulties in receiving, processing, or filing customer tax
submissions; consumers may not respond as we expected to our advertising
and promotional activities; product introductions and price competition
from our competitors can have unpredictable negative effects on our
revenue, profitability and market position; governmental encroachment in
our tax businesses or other governmental activities or public policy
affecting the preparation and filing of tax returns could negatively
affect our operating results and market position; we may not be able to
successfully innovate and introduce new offerings and business models to
meet our growth and profitability objectives, and current and future
offerings may not adequately address customer needs and may not achieve
broad market acceptance, which could harm our operating results and
financial condition; business interruption or failure of our information
technology and communication systems may impair the availability of our
products and services, which may damage our reputation and harm our
future financial results; as we upgrade and consolidate our customer
facing applications and supporting information technology
infrastructure, any problems with these implementations could interfere
with our ability to deliver our offerings; any failure to properly use
and protect personal customer information and data could harm our
revenue, earnings and reputation; if we are unable to develop, manage
and maintain critical third party business relationships, our business
may be adversely affected; increased government regulation of our
businesses may harm our operating results; if we fail to process
transactions effectively or fail to adequately protect against potential
fraudulent activities, our revenue and earnings may be harmed; any
significant offering quality problems or delays in our offerings could
harm our revenue, earnings and reputation; our participation in the Free
File Alliance may result in lost revenue opportunities and
cannibalization of our traditional paid franchise; the continuing global
economic downturn may continue to impact consumer and small business
spending, financial institutions and tax filings, which could negatively
affect our revenue and profitability; year-over-year changes in the
total number of tax filings that are submitted to government agencies
due to economic conditions or otherwise may result in lost revenue
opportunities; our revenue and earnings are highly seasonal and the
timing of our revenue between quarters is difficult to predict, which
may cause significant quarterly fluctuations in our financial results;
our financial position may not make repurchasing shares advisable or we
may issue additional shares in an acquisition causing our number of
outstanding shares to grow; our inability to adequately protect our
intellectual property rights may weaken our competitive position and
reduce our revenue and earnings; our acquisition and divestiture
activities may disrupt our ongoing business, may involve increased
expenses and may present risks not contemplated at the time of the
transactions; our use of significant amounts of debt to finance
acquisitions or other activities could harm our financial condition and
results of operation; and litigation involving intellectual property,
antitrust, shareholder and other matters may increase our costs. More
details about these and other risks that may impact our business are
included in our Form 10-K for fiscal 2013 and in our other SEC filings.
You can locate these reports through our website at http://investors.intuit.com.
Forward-looking statements are based on information as of November 21,
2013, and we do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking
statement or other information in these materials.
Copyright Business Wire 2013