Online Postage Provider Hopes New Deal Delivers

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El Segundo postage seller Stamps.com announced last week that it plans to acquire one of its major competitors, Endicia, a division of Atlanta’s Newell Rubbermaid Inc., for $215 million in cash – a deal that would be the third, and largest, acquisition for Stamps.com in less than a year.

While both companies offer PC postage services through the U.S. Postal Service, the companies have traditionally targeted different types of customers. Endicia, in Palo Alto, has traditionally concentrated on high-volume private shipping companies while Stamps.com focuses on small businesses as well as companies that manage postage in multiple offices.

“The acquisition of Endicia represents a significant strategic investment in our high-volume shipper business,” Stamps.com Chief Executive Ken McBride said in a statement. “Together, the two companies will be able to more effectively compete with the very large competitors we face today in the mailing and shipping industry.”

The company counts Pitney Bowes Inc., the Stamford, Conn.-headquartered market leader in postage meter manufacturing, as another major rival.

Endicia also sells products under brand names, including DYMO Stamps and PictureItPostage. The company had about $59 million in revenue last year.

Stamps.com announced the deal after markets closed March 24, when its stock price closed at $58.30. The following day, shares closed at $67.78, a one-day jump of 16 percent.

On Oct. 21, Stamps.com’s shares traded below $33, less than half their value last week. But a series of acquisitions, coupled with 2014 fourth-quarter revenue that topped Wall Street expectations, have boosted Stamps.com shares.

The company bought Austin, Texas, e-commerce shipping software company ShipStation in June for an initial cash price of $50 million. In October, it purchased ShipWorks, a similar company in St. Louis, for $22 million.

Stamps.com said that intends to fund the Endicia purchase with $50 million of cash on hand plus $165 million in committed financing from Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Bank of America Corp.

Last month, Stamps.com reported net income of $8.9 million (54 cents a share) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with $18.9 million ($1.13) for the same quarter a year earlier. However, the 2013 figure included a $9.7 million noncash income tax benefit. Revenue rose 29 percent to $41.9 million.

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