PRESS RELEASE

Deluxe Reports First Quarter Results

2003 EPS Outlook Raised Due to Aggressive Share Repurchase

ST. PAUL, Minn., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Deluxe Corporation
(NYSE: DLX), the nation's leading check printing company, reported first
quarter diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $.83 on net income of $50.0
million. Diluted earnings per share and net income for the first quarter in
2002 were $.84 and $54.6 million, respectively.
"While we are pleased with our profitable performance in the midst of
continuing economic challenges, Deluxe is feeling the impact of the extended
length of this sluggish economy," said Lawrence J. Mosner, chairman and CEO of
Deluxe Corporation. "Consumer confidence and spending were reflected in our
business results through the first six quarters of the economic downturn, but
now with consumer confidence declining and unemployment rising, we are seeing
softness in each of our business segments.
"When consumers and small businesses reduce the number of checks they
write due to less prosperous times, Deluxe isn't immediately affected,"
commented Mosner. "However, if an economic downturn lasts long enough, fewer
payment transactions extend the normal check reorder cycle and order volume
will decline until the economy improves or new business is generated."

First Quarter Performance
Deluxe's first quarter net income was $50.0 million, an 8.4 percent
decrease from $54.6 million during the same quarter in 2002. EPS was $.83 per
diluted share compared to $.84. The impact of share repurchases, partially
offset by shares issued under employee plans, contributed $.06 to first
quarter 2003 EPS.
Revenue decreased 3.6 percent to $317.2 million in the first quarter, from
$328.9 million during the same quarter a year ago. The decrease in revenue
was due to a 7.6 percent decline in unit volume, partially offset by a 4.4
percent increase in revenue per unit. Revenue for Financial Services
decreased 7.8 percent, Direct Checks was flat while Business Services
increased 6.1 percent.
Gross margin was 65.4 percent of revenue for the quarter, compared to 65.6
percent in 2002. The lower unit volume and the impact of a mid-2002 postage
rate increase was offset by the 4.4 percent increase in revenue per unit.
Selling, general and administrative expense (SG&A) as a percentage of
revenue was 38.7 percent, flat to the previous year; the expense declined $4.6
million for the quarter, primarily due to lower discretionary spending in
response to softness in the economy.
As a result, operating income decreased 5.0 percent to $84.7 million in
the first quarter, from $89.2 million during the same quarter a year ago.
Operating margin in the first quarter was 26.7 percent of revenue, compared to
27.1 percent of revenue last year.
Interest expense increased to $4.4 million for the quarter, compared to
$0.9 million in 2002, due to higher interest rates and higher debt levels. In
December 2002, Deluxe issued $300.0 million of senior, unsecured notes which
carry interest at a coupon rate of 5.0%.

Business Outlook
"Our financial comparisons are difficult in the first half of 2003 due to
the record results we achieved during the first half of 2002, the ongoing
softness of the economy, and the timing of client gains and losses in our
Financial Services business," Mosner commented. "That being said, we expect
to show favorable comparisons during the last half of 2003 with the year-
earlier period due to our efforts to reduce the impact of the economic
weakness on our performance and the benefits of new client gains we expect to
realize during the third and fourth quarters."
Deluxe indicated that it anticipates second quarter diluted EPS to be in
the range of $.78 to $.82 per share and full-year results to reach at least
$3.50 per share, excluding the impact of additional share repurchases
subsequent to March 31, 2003. This compares to EPS of $.85 and $3.36 for the
second quarter and full year 2002, respectively. For 2003, Deluxe expects
unit volume, revenue, and operating income all to be flat as compared to the
prior year.

Segment Reporting
Deluxe operates three business segments: Financial Services, which sells
checks, related products and check merchandising services to financial
institutions; Direct Checks, which sells checks and related products directly
to consumers through direct mail and the Internet; and Business Services,
which sells checks, forms and related products to small businesses and home
offices through financial institution referrals, business alliances and via
direct mail and the Internet. Each business segment felt the impact of the
continued weak economy as well as a unit decline in checks due to growth of
electronic payment transactions.
Financial Services' revenue decreased 7.8 percent to $177.3 million in the
first quarter, from $192.3 million in 2002. Operating income decreased 23.1
percent to $37.2 million from $48.4 million in 2002. The decreases were the
result of the factors mentioned above, plus the timing of some client losses
and continued pricing pressure.
Direct Checks' revenue was flat to last year at $80.8 million in the first
quarter. Operating income increased 41.6 percent to $31.3 million, from $22.1
million in 2002. Direct Checks was favorably impacted by lower advertising
expense due to the timing of new customer acquisition and the lengthening of
the reorder cycle. These changes had a favorable impact of approximately $6
million in the first quarter. Deluxe expects advertising expense for the
full-year, however, to be comparable to last year. In addition, productivity
improvements and cost management contributed to these favorable results.
Business Services' revenue increased 6.1 percent to $59.1 million in the
first quarter, from $55.7 million in 2002 due to increased revenue per unit
and new business from our Microsoft(R) business alliance. Operating income
decreased 13.4 percent to $16.2 million, from $18.7 million in 2002 as a
result of product mix, new business development and transforming our customer
care organization from a service to a selling environment.

Share Repurchase Program
On August 5, 2002, Deluxe announced that its board of directors had
authorized a 12 million share repurchase program. Through March 31, 2003, the
Company repurchased approximately 6.3 million shares and to date,
approximately 7.6 million shares.

Conference Call Information
Deluxe will hold an open-access teleconference call today at
11:00 a.m. EDT (10:00 a.m. CDT) to review the quarter's financial results.
All interested persons may listen to the call by dialing 612-288-0329. The
presentation also will be available via a simultaneous web cast at
www.deluxe.com. A replay of the call will be available on Deluxe's web site
until midnight on April 24, or by calling 320-365-3844 (access code 680107).

About Deluxe
Deluxe Corporation provides personal and business checks, business forms,
labels, personalized self-inking stamps, fraud prevention services and
customer retention programs to banks, credit unions, financial services
companies, consumers and small businesses. The Deluxe group of businesses
reaches clients and customers through a number of distribution channels: the
Internet, direct mail, the telephone and a nationwide sales force. Since its
beginning in 1915, Deluxe Corporation has been instrumental in shaping the
U.S. payments industry. Deluxe was recently ranked as a leading U.S.
corporate citizen by Business Ethics magazine. More information about Deluxe
can be found at www.deluxe.com .

Forward-looking Statements
Statements made in this release concerning the Company's or management's
intentions, expectations, or predictions about future results or events are
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements reflect management's current
expectations or beliefs, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results or events to vary from stated expectations, which
variations could be material and adverse. Factors that could produce such a
variation include, but are not limited to, the following: the inherent
unreliability of earnings, revenue and cash flow predictions due to numerous
factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control; developments in the
demand for the Company's products and services; relationships with the
Company's major customers and suppliers; unanticipated delays, costs and
expenses inherent in the development and marketing of new products and
services; the impact of governmental laws and regulations; and competitive
factors. In addition, the Company's stock repurchase activities are subject
to certain pricing restrictions, stock market forces, management discretion
and various regulatory requirements. As a result, there can be no assurance
as to the timing and/or amount of shares that the Company may repurchase under
its stock repurchase program. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of
the time made, and we assume no obligation to publicly update any such
statements. Additional information concerning these and other factors that
could cause actual results and events to differ materially from the Company's
current expectations are contained in the Company's Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2002.

Financial Highlights

DELUXE CORPORATION
STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(DOLLARS IN MILLIONS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS)
(Unaudited)

First Quarter First Quarter
2003 2002

Revenue $317.2 $328.9

Cost of goods sold 109.8 34.6% 113.1 34.4%

Gross Profit 207.4 65.4% 215.8 65.6%

Selling, general and
administrative expense 122.8 38.7% 127.4 38.7%
Asset impairment and disposition
losses (gains) (0.1) - (0.8) (0.2%)

Operating Income 84.7 26.7% 89.2 27.1%

Other income (expense) 0.2 0.1% (0.3) (0.1%)

Earnings Before Interest and Taxes 84.9 26.8% 88.9 27.0%

Interest expense (4.4) (1.4%) (0.9) (0.3%)
Interest income 0.1 - 0.1 0.1%

Income Before Income Taxes 80.6 25.4% 88.1 26.8%

Provision for income taxes 30.6 9.6% 33.5 10.2%

Net Income $50.0 15.8% $54.6 16.6%

Average Diluted Shares
Outstanding 59,893,509 65,256,884
Net Income per Share: Basic $0.84 $0.85
Diluted $0.83 $0.84

Capital Expenditures $5.5 $9.1
Depreciation and Amortization
Expense $14.6 $14.7
EBITDA* $99.5 $103.6
Number of Employees 6,095 6,560


* EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under generally
accepted accounting principles. We disclose EBITDA because it can be used
to analyze profitability between companies and industries by eliminating
the effects of financing (i.e., interest) and capital investments (i.e.,
depreciation and amortization). We continually evaluate EBITDA, as we
believe that an increasing EBITDA depicts increased ability to attract
financing and increases the valuation of our business. EBITDA is derived
from operating income as follows:

First Quarter
2003 2002

Operating income $84.7 $89.2
Other income (expense) 0.2 (0.3)
Depreciation and amortization 14.6 14.7
EBITDA $99.5 $103.6


DELUXE CORPORATION
CONDENSED BALANCE SHEETS
(DOLLARS IN MILLIONS)
(Unaudited)

March 31, Dec. 31, March 31,
2003 2002 2002

Cash and cash equivalents $5.2 $124.9 $7.3
Other current assets 108.0 74.8 100.6
Property, plant & equipment - net 135.9 140.0 147.7
Intangibles - net 100.8 106.0 112.6
Goodwill - net 82.2 82.2 82.2
Other long-term assets 172.1 141.1 112.2
Total assets $604.2 $669.0 $562.6

Short-term debt & current portion
of long-term debt $113.2 $1.6 $162.5
Other current liabilities 197.4 213.2 201.5
Long-term debt 306.4 306.6 9.7
Deferred income taxes 54.5 54.5 44.9
Other long-term liabilities 31.2 28.8 35.6
Shareholders' (deficit) equity (98.5) 64.3 108.4
Total liabilities and shareholders'
(deficit) equity $604.2 $669.0 $562.6

Shares outstanding 56,683,137 61,445,894 64,352,285



CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(DOLLARS IN MILLIONS)
(Unaudited)

First Quarter First Quarter
2003 2002
Cash provided by (used by):
Operating activities $(6.0) $34.5
Investing activities:
Purchases of capital assets (5.5) (9.1)
Other (0.2) (4.8)
Total investing activities (5.7) (13.9)
Financing activities:
Shares repurchased (201.5) (28.4)
Dividends (21.8) (23.8)
Shares issued under employee plans 7.3 21.9
Net change in debt 108.0 7.4
Total financing activities (108.0) (22.9)
Net decrease in cash (119.7) (2.3)
Cash and cash equivalents:
Beginning of period 124.9 9.6
End of period $5.2 $7.3


DELUXE CORPORATION
SEGMENT INFORMATION
(DOLLARS IN MILLIONS)
(Unaudited)

First Quarter 2003 First Quarter 2002
Revenue:
Financial Services $177.3 $192.3
Direct Checks 80.8 80.9
Business Services 59.1 55.7
Total $317.2 $328.9

Operating income:
Financial Services $37.2 $48.4
Direct Checks 31.3 22.1
Business Services 16.2 18.7
Total $84.7 $89.2