PRA Announces Lower Earnings

PRA Group, one of the largest debt collection and debt-buying firms in the world, announced its third-quarter earnings yesterday and the numbers were lower than expected.

The company earned $17.4 million in the third quarter, down from $51 million in the same period a year ago. Overall revenue was $229 million, down from $239 million last year.

PRA also purchased a lot less debt in the third quarter, especially here in the U.S. The company purchased about $100 million in receivables in the third quarter, down from more than $150 million last year. For the first nine months of 2015, the company has purchased $372 million in debt, compared with $415 million during the same period last year.

The company’s collection force is also declining. PRA had 2,159 full-time collectors on staff, down from almost 2,500 last year. That number has declined steadily and consistently throughout 2015.

PRA did not disclose its overall collection rate. What it did share was that there was $2.8 billion in estimated remaining collections here in the U.S., compared with $2.7 billion last year.