Intercontinental Exchange Inc. commemorated the anniversary of its acquisition of Jacksonville-based mortgage technology company Black Knight Inc. as it reported third-quarter earnings.
However, ICE did not say anything about plans for a headquarters office for its mortgage technology business.
“September marked our one-year anniversary since we closed on the acquisition of Black Knight,” ICE Chief Executive Jeffrey Sprecher said in an Oct. 31 conference call, according to a company transcript.
“By adding Black Knight’s servicing technology, with its over 100 servicing clients and robust data and analytics to our network, ICE assembled a true life-of-loan offering that spans from the point of consumer acquisition all the way through to the secondary capital markets. We organized once disparate assets into a unified network that communicates seamlessly from end to end,” he said.
ICE, best known as operator of the New York Stock Exchange, has headquarters offices in New York and Atlanta.
A month ago, Jacksonville’s Office of Economic Development released a document saying a code-named company is seeking $21 million in incentives to establish a national headquarters for its mortgage technology business.
While the company was not named, ICE fits the description, but company officials have not commented on it.
ICE said in a February quarterly conference call that it was planning to upgrade the former Black Knight headquarters building at 601 Riverside Ave. but it did not give details.
The $11.9 billion acquisition of Black Knight doubled the size of ICE’s mortgage technology business.
Black Knight dominated the market for processing home loans in the U.S. before the merger and ICE was a leader in software for originating mortgage loans.
“Essentially, we’ve moved ICE from selling software to offering a growing network for the management of the home mortgage life cycle,” Sprecher said.
ICE reported revenue in its mortgage technology business rose 54% in the third quarter to $509 million, with Black Knight included for less than a month in last year’s third quarter.
Adjusted operating income from mortgage technology rose 38% to $181 million.
ICE’s total revenue in the quarter rose 17% to $2.35 billion, with adjusted earnings rising by 8.5% to $894 million, or $1.55 per share.
Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, reported higher third-quarter earnings and raised its earnings forecast for the full year.
The Jacksonville-based banking technology company reported adjusted earnings rose 37% to $765 million, or $1.40 a share, with revenue rising 4% to $2.57 billion.
“FIS delivered another quarter of strong results with broad-based outperformance against our financial targets, sales momentum across the enterprise and success securing a number of strategic partnerships,” CEO Stephanie Ferris said in FIS’ Nov. 4 conference call with analysts.
FIS provides services to major banks around the world but Ferris highlighted an expanded relationship with Jacksonville-based EverBank as part of its success in securing additional business with its customers.
She said FIS added its digital banking platform to the services it provides for Everbank.
That relationship with EverBank “is a leading example of our cross-sell flywheel at work as the bank is both a banking solutions and capital markets customer, opting for new solutions across both segments this past quarter,” she said.
With the growth in earnings, FIS raised its earnings forecast for the full year from an adjusted $5.03 to $5.11 per share to $5.15 to $5.20.
Black Knight was once a part of FIS but was spun out of FIS as a separate company in 2008.
In August, Dun & Bradstreet Holdings Inc. confirmed reports that it had received inquiries from potential acquirers of the Jacksonville-based business data firm.
As it reported earnings Oct. 31, CEO Anthony Jabbour said talks continue but he gave no further details.
“While I will not comment on the status of any particular engagement, the team is spending a significant amount of time conducting in-person meetings, holding additional functional due diligence sessions, providing detailed responses to the interested parties and will continue to be responsive and thoughtful in all of our interactions on behalf of our shareholders,” Jabbour said in the company’s conference call.
Dun & Bradstreet, which traces its history to 1841, was acquired in 2019 by an investment group led by Fidelity National Financial Chairman Bill Foley.
FIS was part of Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Financial Inc. but was spun off by the title insurance company in 2006. Jabbour was previously an executive at FIS and was CEO of Black Knight.
After taking steps to turn around operations, the investors took Dun & Bradstreet public again with an initial public offering in 2020.
Dun & Bradstreet then moved its headquarters to Jacksonville in 2021.
The company said third-quarter revenue rose 3.2% (adjusted for foreign exchange rates) to $609.1 million and earnings were basically unchanged from last year at $116 million, or 27 cents a share.