The high-margin, high-growth operations within First American’s Consumer Information and Services segment are critical components of the Corporation’s overall diversification strategy. These companies are key providers of the information that touches people throughout the most important economic events of their lives. First American’s many consumer-information companies provide information about people to businesses that, in turn, provide essential services to these consumers. These consumer-services companies also provide information and services directly to people, allowing them to make decisions that play roles in their own economic lives. Both groups include businesses that add diversified revenue outside the interest-rate-sensitive real estate market, providing business components that are less affected by that market’s fluctuations.

The Consumer Information and Services segment again produced impressive earnings gains throughout the year 2000. The segment posted a 22 percent operating revenue increase over 1999, ending the year with $252.3 million in operating revenues. Income before income taxes and minority interests for this group totaled $35.2 million for 2000, a 27 percent of its income before income taxes and minority interests.

CONSUMER INFORMATION

The Consumer Information group within this segment currently consists of operations focused on automotive sales and leasing, resident screening, pre-employment screening, and specialized consumer-credit reporting.

Vertical-Market Focus

Strategic formation of a menu of products directed to the auto-lending market continued, building this group of core products much as the Corporation had previously assembled its Mortgage Information Services group.