Portfolio Recovery's profit surges 34 percent

NORFOLK

Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc. said Thursday that its third-quarter net income jumped 34 percent, helped by greater cash collections and increased productivity.

The Norfolk-based company, which buys pools of defaulted consumer debt and attempts to collect it, said it earned $25.19 million for the June-through-September quarter, compared with $18.76 million in the year-earlier period. Its earnings per share rose to $1.48 from $1.08.

Portfolio's third-quarter revenues, which included fee income, grew 20 percent to $114.3 million from $95.4 million in the comparable period last year. The company noted that revenues generated by its fee-for-service businesses fell 27 percent from last year's third quarter to $11.4 million.

However, its cash collections rose 33 percent to a record $182.2 million, Portfolio said. The biggest source of its collections for the quarter, those purchased in bankruptcy cases, grew 40 percent to $74.5 million.

The second-largest source, its call centers, brought in nearly $64 million, a 24 percent increase from the 2010 third quarter.

Portfolio said it spent $122.1 million to buy debt with a face value of $5.68 billion during the recent quarter.

Its share price jumped $3.02 in heavy trading Thursday to close at $70.59.

Tom Shean, (757) 446-2379, tom.shean@pilotonline.com