Published on March 12, 2004
Exhibit 12
Deluxe Corporation
Computation of Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | |||||||||||||||
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| Earnings: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Income from continuing operations before | ||||||||||||||||||||
| income taxes | $ | 299,380 | $ | 340,722 | $ | 297,534 | $ | 273,429 | $ | 322,582 | $ | 256,305 | ||||||||
| Interest expense (excluding capitalized interest) |
19,241 | 5,079 | 5,691 | 11,900 | 8,852 | 8,672 | ||||||||||||||
| Portion of rent expense under long-term | ||||||||||||||||||||
| operating leases representative of an interest factor |
2,478 | 3,058 | 3,540 | 3,520 | 7,728 | 8,859 | ||||||||||||||
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| Total earnings | $ | 321,099 | $ | 348,859 | $ | 306,765 | $ | 288,849 | $ | 339,162 | $ | 273,836 | ||||||||
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Fixed charges: |
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| Interest expense (including capitalized interest) | $ | 19,241 | $ | 5,139 | $ | 5,691 | $ | 11,900 | $ | 9,925 | $ | 10,063 | ||||||||
| Portion of rent expense under long-term | ||||||||||||||||||||
| operating leases representative of an interest factor |
2,478 | 3,058 | 3,540 | 3,520 | 7,728 | 8,859 | ||||||||||||||
| Total fixed charges | $ | 21,719 | $ | 8,197 | $ | 9,231 | $ | 15,420 | $ | 17,653 | $ | 18,922 | ||||||||
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Ratio of earnings to fixed charges |
14.8 | 42.6 | 33.2 | 18.7 | 19.2 | 14.5 | ||||||||||||||