Executives at Debt Resolve, Inc. (AMEX: DRV), said today they expect the firm to continue growing with additional U.S. and European clients, while cost-cutting actions will reduce the expense side of the business.
Leaders of the firm that provides collection companies and others with online bidding and skip tracing technologies made the comments while discussing third quarter results with analysts and investors in a conference call.
The company’s third quarter loss, announced two weeks ago, was $3.3 million, about half of the loss of the third quarter of 2006. The fourth quarter could be better as Debt Resolve gets some financial benefits from two new financial institution customers in the U.S. and one in the United Kingdom, said James Burchetta, Debt Resolve co-chairman and CEO.
Those new customers will contribute more to Debt Resolve’s revenues in 2008, Burchetta said. “We also expect to add several new domestic and international clients in the next 60 days and reduce our losses from First Performance to break-even by the end of 2008.” Debt Resolve acquired First Performance, an accounts receivable management agency, in January.
“We expect 2008 to show improvement as we complete the contract negotiations that are underway,” Burchetta said. “We expect revenues to grow as we continue to add new clients. We [also] expect the European collections industry to continue to grow in 2008. We will be looking at opportunities in those countries in the next quarter and the next year.”
Debt Resolve also expects to reduce its expenses by 40 percent by reducing staff in its Internet group and avoiding the purchase of additional debt. However, Chief Financial Officer David M. Rainey said that the company was seeking additional funding to strengthen the company’s financial position.
Burchetta said he expects the company to see accelerated revenue growth in 2009 as the company expands its marketing efforts over the next two years.