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February 23, 2010 Portlandbiz

Wright Express goes to Wall Street

Photo/Courtesy Wright Express Wright Express CEO Michael Dubyak and other company officials ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange
By Robert M. Cook

Ringing the New York Stock Exchange bell is not new for Michael Dubyak, the chairman and CEO of Wright Express. But it's not as easy as it may seem. Ring the bell past 9 a.m. to commence that day's trading, or before 4 p.m. to signal the end, and you'll incur some wrath. "If you make a mistake, the floor boos you," Dubyak says.

Fortunately, Dubyak received enough guidance from New York Stock Exchange officials to pull it off without a hitch. Last Tuesday, Dubyak, along with other company officials, rang the bell before the close of trading to celebrate the firm's fifth anniversary as a publicly-traded company. Per instructions, Dubyak rang the bell 15 seconds before trading closed and followed it with a resounding use of the gavel. "I did it without making a mistake," he says. "It was a nice celebration for everyone who was there."

Luckily, he had practice. Dubyak rang the stock exchange bell on Wall Street five years ago to commence trading shortly before 9 a.m. to mark the first day Wright Express Financial became a publicly traded company under the symbol WXS.

The market itself must have approved of the way Dubyak closed last Tuesday's trading because it finished at 170 points above the previous day's trading, "and we took credit for it," he says.

New York Stock Exchange officials even invited the crew from Wright Express to come back a third time and ring the bell because they might have brought some good luck from Maine, where the company has been based for 25 years. Dubyak has been there for 24 of those, joining the company after it raised some needed venture capital in 1985. He has served as the company's CEO since 1998.

"We're proud to be here," he says.

The company has even more to celebrate than its fifth year anniversary as a publicly-traded firm.

According to its latest financial reports issued by the company on Feb. 10, total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2009 increased 4% to $83.8 million from $80.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2008. Its adjusted net income for 2009 rose 16% to $85.6 million.

Dubyak says the company, which is a leading global provider of payment processing and information management services, has also ridden out the financial turbulence of 2009 surprisingly well.

When the nation experienced its financial meltdown in September 2008 that plunged the country into its deep recession, Dubyak says the company's stock went from $29 per share to $8-$9 per share in November 2008. But in 2009, the company's stock rebounded from $12 per share at the beginning of the year to as high as $33 per share last month. It's since dropped down to about $$29.70 per share.

The company's network enables commercial and government fleets to manage their vehicles more effectively. Its charge cards are used by 280,000 companies for commercial and government fleets to purchase fuel and maintenance services for approximately 4.6 million vehicles.

Dubyak says the company's niche and its ability to diversify its business has helped Wright Express set the stage for what company officials believe will be strong growth this year. Since its financials are so dependent on fuel prices, predictions for 2010 revenues range from $82 million-$87 million based on an average retail fuel price of $2.78 per gallon, to $360 million-$370 million if the fuel price averages $2.80 a gallon.

"In 2010, we see the economy finally stabilized," Dubyak says. He added the company is also seeing some of its existing customers start to grow again. While the bulk of the company's 720 employees work in Maine, it also has divisions in Europe and New Zealand, markets in which the company is currently investing.

That could help offset the effects Dubyak anticipates some of the company's clients -- and Wright Express -- will feel when the federal economic stimulus money provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act runs out in the second half of the year.

Overall, Dubyak says, "We feel much more optimistic about this year than we felt going into last year."

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