NKBS Newtek Business Services

NEW YORK, April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Newtek Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKBS) http://www.newtekbusinessservices.com/), a provider of business services and financial products to the small to medium-sized business market, has announced today that it has acquired a merchant processing portfolio with 3,100 clients from The Midwest Transaction Group. The purchase price for the portfolio is approximately $2.5 million. This bankcard acceptance portfolio is processed on the secure payment platform operated by Chase Paymentech. It gives Newtek access to an additional merchant processing platform for its small business clients. The portfolio has annual processing volume of approximately $240 million. With this addition Newtek will have total card processing volume of over $2.2 billion on an annualized basis. Newtek Business Services, Inc. has also signed a letter of intent to purchase a second portfolio. Barry Sloane, Chairman and CEO of Newtek Business Services, Inc., said, "As we have publicly stated recently, it was the Company's intent to add $10 million worth of purchased portfolio to our fast growing organic business. This strategy gives us greater diversity to choose from for our alliance partners and clients. It also enables us to control and diversify our risk. Increasing our overall size in this business helps us to reduce all costs up and down the line. We anticipate owning the rights to approximately 20,000 merchant customers by 2006 year-end. We also anticipate to own cash flows over $3 billion in annualized processing volume. Our strategy is clearly working to continue to grow and establish our brand amongst small to medium-sized business clients." About Newtek Business Services, Inc. Newtek Business Services, Inc. is a direct distributor of business services and financial products to the small to medium-sized business market. According to the SBA, there are over 23 million small businesses in the United States which in total represent 99.7% of all employers, generate 60 -- 80 percent of all new jobs annually and generate more than 50% of non-farm GDP. Since 1999, Newtek has helped these business owners realize their potential by providing them with the essential tools needed to manage and grow their businesses. Newtek focuses on providing its 60,000 customers with access to financial, management and technological resources that enable them to better grow and compete in today's marketplace. Newtek's products and services include: * Newtek Small Business Finance: U.S. government-guaranteed small business lending services; * Newtek Merchant Solutions: electronic merchant payment processing solutions; * Newtek Insurance Agency: commercial and personal insurance; * Newtek Web Hosting: domain registration, hosting, web design and development; * Newtek Data Storage Services: data backup, archival and retrieval services; * Newtek Financial Information Systems: outsourced digital bookkeeping; and * Newtek Tax Services: tax filing, preparation and advisory services. The statements in this release may contain forward looking statements relating to such matters as anticipated future business strategies and financial performance, anticipated future number of customers, business prospects, legislative developments and similar matters. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Newtek Business Services, Inc. notes that a variety of factors could cause its actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results expressed in the Company's forward looking statements such as intensified competition and/or operating problems and their impact on revenues and profit margins or additional factors as described in Newtek Business Services' 2004 annual report on Form 10-K. Contacts: Newtek Business Services Barry Sloane Chairman of the Board & CEO 212-356-9500 DATASOURCE: Newtek Business Services, Inc. CONTACT: Barry Sloane, Chairman of the Board & CEO, or Newtek Business Services, +1-212-356-9500, or Web site: http://www.newtekbusinessservices.com/

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