PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Page 5 of 5

Kevin Stevenson: Yes, sure. So what I said in the script was that total digital collections globally since 2019 has been up 80% overall, 8-0 percent. And in the U.S., because we started digital earlier in the U.S., it’s up about 25%. And I was just talking to some folks before the call, and we’ve given some statistics some time ago. And they’re still generally true is that the digital platform is still collecting on order of as much as our two largest call centers. So it’s continuing to produce. That’s the U.S., obviously, U.S. number.

Bob Napoli: Okay. All right. And then on purchases, I mean, looking at the delinquencies and the growth in credit card debt, as you guys put out some good chart, if that thing like charge-offs, as we normalize through the year, it could be up substantially. Do you expect like quarter-to-quarter-to-quarter to purchase more debt out of the U.S. I mean I know it can be a little bit lumpy at times, but is that what you — based upon the amount of debt, it seems like to us like you could have materially higher purchases in the back half of the year in the U.S.

Kevin Stevenson: So yes, I think, first of all, I’d expect these rates to continue to normalize. I think it’s just — again, I don’t want to oversimplify it, but I think it’s just math. Those things are going to happen. And if you link that together with what I’ve said about our forward flows, how they’ve been — it’s just a constant movement upwards, one step forward, one step forward, one step forward. And pretty soon, you’ve got pretty substantial increases if you look at where we’re at today versus where we’re at, say, in October. And so — and the trend has continued. And so I think that’s what you should expect to see. Again, the open market bidding, I addressed in an earlier question. It can be a little spotty. But yes, I think we would expect to see just the continued dripping of those flows increasing.

Bob Napoli: And then just lastly on the M&A, I mean, you’ve brought up M&A Yes. So I mean, we’re going to wake up one morning and there’s going to be an announcement that PRA acquired such and such. I mean what should we expect? Should we expect a new market of similar your current business, a European player? Or should we expect something a tangential or related type of business, but not in the maybe the debt purchasing business. Just any color, so we’re kind of — we could be prepared for what we might see.

Kevin Stevenson: Yes. Well, I’ll let my script stand alone, Bob. It’s — we are looking at all those things I wrote in the script. I thought hard about it to try to give you guys a feel. But again, this whole idea of either expanding the footprint, new skills, capabilities new access to data. But again, new market, which would include, as you said, a tangentially related market is not out of the question by any means. So we’ll try to give you some heads up as best we can. But we’re being very strategic about it. And I know sometimes it’s hard to be disciplined and strategic but be able to be flexible and fast enough to react when something comes out. But we’re trying to do all those things at one time.

Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Kevin Stevenson for any closing remarks.

Kevin Stevenson: Well, thank you very much, operator. Again, thanks, everyone, for joining the call this evening. And I guess all I can say is we look forward to speaking to you again next quarter. Thank you.

Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may all now disconnect.

Follow Pra Group Inc (NASDAQ:PRAA)

Page 5 of 5