Summary of Selected Financial Data from 1998 Annual Report

(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)

Years ended December 31

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

Total revenue

$4,220,517

$3,920,013

$3,695,550

$3,426,275

$3,176,896

Costs and expenses

3,356,340

3,144,486

3,038,380

2,828,804

2,654,921

Nonrecurring items, net

-

-

-

-

(25,366)

Income from continuing operations

before income taxes

864,177

775,527

657,170

597,471

547,341

Provision for income taxes

296,236

266,525

204,561

204,013

210,410

Income from continuing operations

567,941

509,002

452,609

393,458

336,931

Discontinued operations

8,453

17,025

16,804

189,682

56,660

Effect of accounting changes

-

-

-

-

(119,532)

Net income

$576,394

$526,027

$469,413

$583,140

$274,059

Basic earnings per share:

Continuing operations

$2.07

$1.76

$1.51

$1.30

$1.08

Discontinued operations

0.03

0.06

0.06

0.63

0.18

Effect of accounting changes

-

-

-

-

(0.38)

Net income

$2.10

$1.82

$1.57

$1.93

$0.88

Diluted earnings per share:

Continuing operations

$2.03

$1.74

$1.50

$1.29

$1.07

Discontinued operations

0.03

0.06

0.06

0.62

0.18

Effect of accounting changes

-

-

-

-

(0.38)

Net income

$2.06

$1.80

$1.56

$1.91

$0.87

Total dividends on common, preference

and preferred stock

$247,484

$231,392

$206,115

$181,657

$162,714

Dividends per share of common stock

$0.90

$0.80

$0.69

$0.60

$0.52

Average common and potential common

shares outstanding

279,656,603

292,517,116

301,303,356

304,739,952

315,485,784

Balance sheet at December 31

Total assets

$7,661,039

$7,893,389

$8,155,722

$7,844,648

$7,399,720

Long-term debt

$1,712,937

$1,068,395

$1,300,434

$1,048,515

$779,217

Capital lease obligations

$8,384

$10,142

$12,631

$14,241

$23,147

Stockholders' equity

$1,648,002

$1,872,577

$2,239,046

$2,071,100

$1,745,069

Book value per common share

$6.09

$6.69

$7.56

$6.90

$5.76

Ratios

Profit margin - continuing operations:

Pretax earnings

20.5%

19.8%

17.8%

17.4%

17.2%

After-tax earning

13.5%

13.0%

12.2%

11.5%

10.6%

Return on stockholders' equity -

before accounting changes

35.0%

28.1%

21.0%

28.2%

22.6%

Debt to total capital

66.6%

64.2%

60.5%

62.2%

66.3%

Other

Common stockholders of record

32,210

31,092

32,258

32,859

31,226

Total employees

31,299

29,645

28,412

27,536

32,635

Postage meters in service in the U.S.,

U.K. and Canada

1,586,783

1,561,668

1,494,157

1,517,806

1,480,692

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