Billtrust B2B Sales Index Shows Modest October Growth

HAMILTON, N.J., Nov. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Billtrust, the leading outsourced billing services provider, today announced October results of the Billtrust B2B Sales Index™ as well as two sister indexes. The Billtrust B2B Sales Index, a leading economic indicator based on a sampling of business-to-business invoice activity, increased a modest 0.4 percent for October, while the Invoice Counts Index gained 0.5 percent and the Customer Counts Index declined by 0.1 percent.

The Billtrust B2B Sales Index continues to align closely with the U.S. government's GDP data, which most recently indicated a nominal GDP quarterly growth rate of 1.18 percent. By comparison, the two-quarter-ahead forecast from the Billtrust B2B Sales Index was 1.26 percent. Billtrust releases its index data monthly, typically 9 to 12 days after month completion.

"The timeliness of Billtrust's data releases along with the Index's record as a leading economic indicator can help economists and investors forecast the future state of the economy," said Arthur A. Ferri, Ph.D., an advanced analytics consultant for Billtrust, who oversees the firm's indexes. A former associate professor in the Finance and Economics Division of Columbia Business School, Ferri holds a doctorate in finance from NYU's Stern School of Business. "Our correlation is further supported at the high value of 0.78."

Ferri continued, "The Sales Index's growth for October is below average. The Invoice Counts Index shows a decent October; however, the 5-month period since May is still down slightly. The Customer Counts Index remains below May's level for the fifth consecutive month."

"The small difference between the nominal GDP forecast of the Billtrust B2B Sales Index and the actual third-quarter numbers is impressive," said Tom Sowanick, Co-President & Chief Investment Officer, OmniVest Group LLC. "And the two-quarter-ahead correlation is hanging together nicely."

"Billtrust reported in August the leading correlation of its index with respect to growth rates of nominal US GDP.  Now that there has been a new quarter reported by the BEA, it is significant to note that Billtrust's Index stands up as a leading economic indicator," said Jeffrey A. Busse, Ph.D.,  Associate Professor of Finance at Emory University's Goizueta Business School. "I think the investment community will want to pay close attention to this."

Currently serving more than 1,000 corporate customers that conduct more than 250 million transactions and represent in excess of $200 billion in annual receivables, Billtrust is a pioneer in the fast-growing e-billing industry. Its menu of services spans a range of paper and online billing channels for the delivery and payment of invoices and statements.

To learn more about the Billtrust B2B Sales Index, visit www.billtrust.com/b2bsalesindex.

About Billtrust
Headquartered in Hamilton N.J., Billtrust is a premier provider of outsourced billing solutions. Its products and services help companies' billing practices become "Customer-Centric," a concept that emphasizes flexible accommodation of customer needs. Billtrust's billing channels span paper, fax, e-mail, online billing (EBPP, EIPP, Invoice Central), eBanking and IVR. In addition, the company provides expert bill design, in-bill marketing services and CustomerCare, an integrated online customer service portal. Billtrust's comprehensive tools automate the billing process so businesses can save money, increase productivity, improve cash flow and seamlessly migrate to electronic delivery. For more information, visit Billtrust online at www.billtrust.com.

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SOURCE Billtrust