Portfolio Recovery posted 37% profit surge in 2011

NORFOLK

Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc., the Norfolk company that buys pools of defaulted consumer debt and tries to collect it, announced Thursday that its 2011 profit jumped 37 percent from the prior year and topped $100 million for the first time.

For the quarter that ended Dec. 31, Portfolio Recovery's earnings hit a record at $26.6 million, up 29 percent from the same quarter in 2010.

Net income for 2011 was $100.8 million. Earnings per share were $1.54 for the quarter and $5.85 for the year.

Record revenues drove earnings.

Revenues reached $118.1 million for the quarter, up 17 percent from a year earlier. For the year, revenues rose 23 percent to $458.9 million.

Revenues climbed largely on a 22 percent increase in cash receipts - a combination of cash collections and fee income - which were $195.7 million in the fourth quarter. Cash collections from finance receivables increased 25 percent to $180.3 million in the quarter.

One of Portfolio Recovery's strongest collection sources in the fourth quarter was its internal legal collections, for which it uses its own staff attorneys, adding $17.6 million to total cash collections, 37 percent more than during the same period in 2010.

Shares in Portfolio Recovery closed Thursday at $70.58, up $2.18.

Carolyn Shapiro, 757-446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com