Asta Funding Reports Higher Revenues and Income in Quarter

Asta Funding, Inc., a leading consumer receivable asset management and liquidation company, today announced financial results for its fiscal first quarter ended December 31, 2006.
 
Net income for the three months ended December 31, 2006, rose 21.6% to $11,326,000, or $0.77 per diluted share, compared to $9,312,000, or $0.64 per diluted share, in the first quarter of the prior year. Total revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2006 were $25,645,000, a 26.6% increase over revenues of $20,260,000 in the prior year’s quarter.

Gary Stern, Chief Executive Officer, said, "I am very pleased with our first quarter results. Although pricing remains an industry-wide concern, Asta was successful in purchasing $1.3 billion of face value of charged-off consumer receivables during the quarter for a cost of $62.3 million. This success is directly attributable to the close relationships we have built over the years. An added benefit to outsourcing most of our collections has been a solid means of sourcing portfolios to purchase at attractive prices."

Mr. Stern continued, "Net cash collections from consumer receivables acquired for liquidation were $58.9 million for the first quarter, up 27.5% from $46.2 million in the prior year’s quarter, despite the first quarter being a traditionally slower time for the Company. Cash collections represented by account sales were $17.1 million, or 29% of net cash collections in the quarter, compared to $14.0 million in the same period of the prior year, or 30.3% of net cash collections."

Mr. Stern concluded, "We remain very satisfied with the success of our business model and hopeful about our future. Asta continues to be successful in identifying and purchasing portfolios that it believes will benefit shareholders. Our shareholders equity continues to grow, with the book value at $14.12 per share at the end of the first quarter, up 5.4% from $13.40 per share at the end of the September quarter."

Due to the significant amount of time and effort negotiating and finalizing the purchase agreements for the significant portfolio acquisition announced today, our Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2006 will be delayed and we will be filing a Form 12b-25 today. We will endeavor to file our Form 10-Q as soon as practicable. Our quarterly conference call has been postponed until after the closing of this acquisition.