Asta Funding Announces Record Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year Financial Results
biz.yahoo.com
Thursday December 14, 8:30 am ET
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., Dec. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Asta Funding, Inc., (Nasdaq: ASFI), a leading consumer receivable asset management and liquidation company, today reported record results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ending September 30, 2006.
Net income for the fourth quarter ended September 30, 2006, rose 50.7% to a record $13.6 million or $0.93 per diluted share, from $9.0 million or $0.62 per diluted share, in the same prior year period. Finance income for the fourth quarter ended September 30, 2006 was $29.8 million, a 49.5% increase compared to finance income of $20.0 million for the fourth quarter ended September 30, 2005.
Net income for the year ended September 30, 2006, rose 47.7% to $45.8 million or $3.13 per diluted share, from $31.0 million, or $2.15 per diluted share, in the same prior year period. Finance income for the year ended September 30, 2006, was $101.0 million, an increase of 45.4% compared to finance income of $69.5 million for the year ended September 30, 2005.
Mr. Gary Stern, President and Chief Executive Officer of Asta Funding, stated, "We are extremely pleased to report record quarter and fiscal year results. Our performance reflects the success of our business model, although this quarter and year were aided by certain factors, principally collections and sales significantly in excess of amounts previously estimated. Fiscal 2006 included $159.4 million in net cash collections from collection of consumer receivables acquired for liquidation, up 53.0% from $104.2 million in the year ago period. Net cash collections represented by account sales of consumer receivables acquired for liquidation were $55.0 million, down from $64.7 million for the year ended September 30, 2005. Collections represented by account sales as a percentage of total collections were 25.7% for fiscal 2006, down from 38.3% in the prior year. Stockholders' equity continues to improve, with the book value rising 25.5% to $13.40 per share at the end of the fiscal year, up from a book value of $10.68 per share the same time last year. Return on average stockholders' equity for fiscal 2006 was 27.8%."
Mr. Stern added, "The Company also acquired approximately $5.2 billion in face value receivables, the highest level in the Company's history, at a purchase price of $200.2 million. This is a major accomplishment given the continued pricing pressures that still face our industry. Although pricing remains at traditionally higher levels, Asta has been successful in finding suitable purchases for our investors through various methods, including the utilization of our network of long-term relationships. The challenge of finding suitable purchases will be more intense in 2007, as our growth is reliant on purchasing ever increasing dollar amounts of accounts in a difficult market."
Mr. Stern concluded, "We are very satisfied with the portfolio performance for fiscal 2006 and believe our purchases during the year will continue to return excellent results to shareholders. That being said, given the fact that we are reliant for growth on purchasing portfolios in a very competitive environment, and given that collections were better than our historical levels in 2006, we anticipate that the first quarter results of fiscal 2007 may not be as good as the fourth quarter of 2006, although we believe they should be similar or better than those reported in the first quarter of fiscal 2006." |
