Encore Reports Lower Profits, But Offers Rosy Outlook Going Forward

Encore Capital Group may have made less money in the third quarter, compared with the same period a year ago, but the company seems to be really happy about its prospects moving forward. The debt buyer released its third-quarter financial statements earlier this week, announcing it made $20.7 million during the period, down from $28.2 million during the third quarter of 2017. Total revenue for the third quarter of 2018 was $337 million, up from $307 million last year.

For the first nine months of 2018, the company has earned $63.7 million in profits, compared with $76.2 million a year ago.

The company said it had $7.2 billion of estimated remaining collections at the end of the third quarter, up 10% from a year ago, and at its highest point ever in company history. Encore purchased $249 million of portfolios during the third quarter, about half of which were made in the U.S.

“Robust collections continue to be driven by our ongoing focus on operational innovation and the collections capacity that we have steadily added over the past several quarters in the U.S.,” said Ashish Masih, Encore’s president and chief executive officer, in a statement. “In addition, global portfolio purchases totaled $249 million and included $123 million of deployments in the United States, a level that keeps us on track to deploy more capital in the U.S. in 2018 than in any other prior year.”

Encore’s gross collections were $499 million for the quarter, compared with $443 million for the same period last year.

The company’s expenses during the third quarter were significantly higher than the same period a year ago. Salary and labor expenses, for example, jumped to $95.6 million for the period, up from $77.2 million a year earlier. Total operating expenses for the quarter were $239 million, up from $203 million last year.