Operating income from continuing operations totaled $65 million for the fourth quarter compared with $58 million for the fourth quarter of 2016. The 13% increase in operating income was principally attributable to cost productivity related gains and growth and margin improvement in insurance & spatial solutions, credit solutions and international operations. Fourth quarter operating income margin was 14% compared with 12% for the fourth quarter of 2016.

Fourth quarter net income from continuing operations totaled $65 million compared with $6 million in the same 2016 period. This increase was primarily attributable to a one-time net tax benefit of $38 million attributable to the Tax Reform Act and a fourth quarter 2016 non-cash impairment charge associated with the wind down of two investments in affiliates which had no 2017 counterpart. Diluted EPS from continuing operations totaled $0.78 for the fourth quarter of 2017 compared with $0.07 in 2016. Adjusted diluted EPS totaled $0.55, essentially in line with the fourth quarter of 2016.

Adjusted EBITDA aggregated $117 million in the fourth quarter compared with $116 million in 2016. The increase was principally driven by organic revenue growth and cost productivity which offset the impact of lower U.S. mortgage market volumes. PIRM segment adjusted EBITDA totaled $50 million compared to $51 million in 2016. UWS segment adjusted EBITDA was $72 million, down from $76 million in 2016, as declines in U.S. mortgage loan activity and lower appraisal volumes attributable to the planned diversification by a significant appraisal management client offset benefits from organic growth and cost management programs.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

At December 31, 2017, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $119 million compared with $72 million at December 31, 2016. Total debt as of December 31, 2017 was $1,777 million compared with $1,619 million as of December 31, 2016. As of December 31, 2017, the Company had available capacity on its revolving credit facility of $700 million.

Net operating cash provided by continuing operations for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 was $380 million. Free cash flow (FCF) for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 totaled $304 million, which represented 63% of adjusted EBITDA. FCF is defined as net cash provided by continuing operating activities less capital expenditures for purchases of property and equipment, capitalized data and other intangible assets.

During 2017, the Company repurchased 4.6 million of its common shares for $207 million. This resulted in a reduction of CoreLogic's fully diluted share count of approximately 5%.

Tax Reform Act Impacts

In December 2017, the Tax Reform Act was passed reducing the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35.0% to 21.0% effective as of January 1, 2018, assessing a one-time transition tax on foreign earnings that were previously tax deferred and creating new taxes on certain foreign-sourced earnings. For the year ended December 31, 2017, the Company recorded a $38 million provisional tax benefit related to the remeasurement of its deferred tax balances. CoreLogic is currently analyzing foreign unremitted earnings to reasonably estimate the effects of the one-time transition tax and expect to record the transition tax during 2018. Based on currently available interpretations and information regarding the likely impacts of the Tax Reform Act, the Company projects its normalized effective tax planning rate for 2018 will be approximately 26%, down from 35% in 2017.

Segment and Financial Reporting

During the fourth quarter of 2017, the Company refined its operating segmentation to reflect progress made in its ongoing strategic transformation into a scaled provider of unique property insight, risk management and underwriting solutions. The Company's updated segmentation reflects CoreLogic’s strategic focus on accelerating growth by combining our products and services into unique business solutions, building seamless connections across the real estate ecosystem, driving innovation and enhancing our business processes. Effective as of December 31, 2017, the Company adopted the following operating and reporting segmentation:

• Property Intelligence and Risk Management Solutions (PIRM) segment includes the Company’s property insights solutions as well as our insurance & spatial solutions and international operations.
• The Underwriting & Workflow Solutions (UWS) segment comprises the Company’s property tax, credit, flood data and valuation solutions.

The Company believes this updated reporting convention more effectively aligns with our market and operating strategies. Three years of reclassified quarterly segment results (on an unaudited basis) can be accessed at http://investor.corelogic.com. Additional details on the Company’s updated financial reporting will be provided in conjunction with the release of the Company’s 2017 Annual Report on Form 10K.

Teleconference/Webcast

CoreLogic management will host a live webcast and conference call on Tuesday, February 27, 2018, at 8:00 a.m. Pacific time (11:00 a.m. Eastern Time) to discuss these results. All interested parties are invited to listen to the event via webcast on the CoreLogic website at http://investor.corelogic.com. Alternatively, participants may use the following dial-in numbers: 1-844-861-5502 for U.S./Canada callers or 412-858-4604 for international callers. Additional detail on the Company's fourth quarter results is included in the quarterly financial supplement, available on the Investor Relations page at http://investor.corelogic.com .