Encore Capital Group Inc (ECPG) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Encore Capital Group's Quarter 3 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

大家好，感謝你們的支持。歡迎參加 Encore Capital Group 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Bruce Thomas, VP of Global Industrial Relations. Bruce, please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給今天的第一位演講者，全球勞資關係副總裁布魯斯·托馬斯 (Bruce Thomas)。布魯斯，請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and welcome to Encore Capital Group's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. Joining me on the call today are Ashish Masih, our President and Chief Executive Officer; Jonathan Clark, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Ryan Bell, President of Midland Credit Management.

謝謝你，接線生。下午好，歡迎參加安可資本集團 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。今天和我一起參加電話會議的是我們的總裁兼執行長 Ashish Masih；喬納森·克拉克，執行副總裁兼財務長；和米德蘭信貸管理公司總裁瑞安貝爾(Ryan Bell)。

Ashish and Jon will make prepared remarks today, and then we'll be happy to take your questions. Unless otherwise noted, comparisons on this conference call will be made between the third quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2022. In addition, today's discussion will include forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual future results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Please refer to our SEC filings for a detailed discussion of potential risks and uncertainties.

阿什和喬恩今天將發表事先準備好的講話，然後我們將很樂意回答您的問題。除非另有說明，本次電話會議將對 2023 年第三季和 2022 年第三季進行比較。此外，今天的討論將包括受風險和不確定性影響的前瞻性陳述。未來的實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述有重大差異。請參閱我們向 SEC 提交的文件，以了解潛在風險和不確定性的詳細討論。

During this call, we will use rounding and abbreviations for the sake of brevity. We will also be discussing non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings presentation, which was filed on Form 8-K earlier today.

在本次通話中，為了簡潔起見，我們將使用舍入和縮寫。我們也將討論非公認會計準則財務指標。我們今天稍早以 8-K 表格提交的收益報告中包含了與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的對帳。

As a reminder, this conference call will also be made available for replay on the Investors section of our website, where we will also post our prepared remarks following the conclusion of this call.

提醒一下，本次電話會議也將在我們網站的投資者部分進行重播，我們也將在本次電話會議結束後發布準備好的評論。

With that, let me turn the call over to Ashish Masih, our President and Chief Executive Officer.

接下來，讓我將電話轉給我們的總裁兼執行長 Ashish Masih。

Thanks, Bruce, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us I'll begin today's call with a few Q3 highlights. The third quarter was another period of strong purchasing in the U.S. at attractive returns for our MCM business, which continues to thrive.

謝謝布魯斯，大家下午好。感謝您加入我們，我將首先介紹第三季的一些亮點。第三季是美國採購強勁的又一個時期，為我們的 MCM 業務帶來了有吸引力的回報，該業務繼續蓬勃發展。

The continued growth in U.S. portfolio supply driven by credit card lending growth and rising charge-off rates has led to improved portfolio pricing and returns. As a result, we deployed $179 million in the U.S. in Q3 at an attractive 2.4x purchase price multiple.

在信用卡貸款成長和沖銷率上升的推動下，美國投資組合供應持續成長，導致投資組合定價和回報改善。因此，我們第三季在美國部署了 1.79 億美元，購買價格倍數為 2.4 倍，極具吸引力。

Concurrent with the favorable purchasing environment in the U.S., Cabot continues to navigate challenging market conditions in the U.K. and Europe. We continue to do what's right for long-term success of Encore, constraining Cabot deployments until returns become more attractive and investing instead in the stronger returns available in the U.S. market.

在美國有利的採購環境的同時，卡博特繼續應對英國和歐洲充滿挑戰的市場條件。我們將繼續採取有利於 Encore 長期成功的正確舉措，限制卡博特的部署，直到回報變得更具吸引力，並投資於美國市場的更高回報。

In Q3, global collections were in line with expectations, as we continue to see normalized consumer behavior in a stable collections environment.

第三季度，全球收藏符合預期，我們持續看到穩定的收藏環境中消費者行為正常化。

I'd also like to highlight our financing activity since the end of the third quarter. In October, amid challenging conditions in the capital markets, a strong balance sheet enabled us to tap an existing bond and also create a new U.S. facility that further enhanced our liquidity. Jon will provide more details on these accomplishments in a few minutes.

我還想強調一下我們自第三季末以來的融資活動。十月份，在資本市場充滿挑戰的情況下，強勁的資產負債表使我們能夠利用現有債券，並創建新的美國融資工具，進一步增強我們的流動性。喬恩將在幾分鐘內提供有關這些成就的更多詳細資訊。

I believe it's helpful to reiterate the critical role we play in the consumer credit ecosystem by assisting in the resolution of unpaid debts, which are an expected and necessary outcome of the lending business model. Our mission is to help create pathways to economic freedom for the consumers we serve by helping them resolve their past due debts.

我認為重申我們在消費信貸生態系統中透過協助解決未償債務所發揮的關鍵作用是有幫助的，這是貸款業務模式的預期和必要結果。我們的使命是透過幫助我們服務的消費者解決逾期債務來幫助他們創造經濟自由的途徑。

We do that by engaging consumers in honest, empathetic and respectful conversations. Our business is to purchase portfolios of non-performing loans at attractive returns while minimizing funding costs. For each portfolio that we own, we strive to exceed our collection expectations, while maintaining an efficient cost structure as well as ensuring the highest level of compliance and consumer focus.

我們透過與消費者進行誠實、同理心和尊重的對話來做到這一點。我們的業務是以有吸引力的回報購買不良貸款組合，同時最大限度地降低融資成本。對於我們擁有的每個產品組合，我們都努力超越我們的收藏期望，同時保持高效的成本結構，並確保最高水準的合規性和消費者關注。

We achieved these objectives through our 3-pillar strategy. This strategy enables us to consistently deliver outstanding financial performance and positions us well to capitalize on future opportunities. We believe this is instrumental for building long-term shareholder value.

我們透過三大支柱策略實現了這些目標。這項策略使我們能夠始終如一地提供出色的財務業績，並使我們能夠充分利用未來的機會。我們相信這對於建立長期股東價值至關重要。

The first pillar of our strategy, Market Focus, concentrates our efforts on the markets where we can achieve the highest risk-adjusted returns.

我們策略的第一個支柱是“市場聚焦”，將我們的努力集中在能夠實現最高風險調整回報的市場上。

Let's now take a look at our 2 largest markets, beginning with the U.S. Changes to consumer behavior during the pandemic led to unusually low credit card balances and below average charge-offs, which in turn resulted in a reduced level of portfolio sales by banks. However, since early 2021, outstandings have been rising.

現在讓我們來看看我們的兩個最大的市場，首先是美國。疫情期間消費者行為的變化導致信用卡餘額異常低，沖銷率低於平均水平，進而導致銀行投資組合銷售水平下降。然而，自 2021 年初以來，未償還債務一直在上升。

Revolving credit in the U.S. surpassed pre-pandemic levels in early 2022. Each month thereafter, the U.S. Federal Reserve has reported a new record level of outstandings reflecting the steady growth in lending we have historically seen in the U.S. market.

2022 年初，美國的循環信貸超過了疫情前的水平。此後每個月，聯準會都會公佈新的未償還貸款水平，反映出美國市場歷史上看到的貸款穩定成長。

The same normalizing consumer behavior that has driven increased demand for consumer credit in the U.S. and lending growth by the banks, has also led to growing charge-offs. Since bottoming out in late 2021, the credit card charge-off rate in the U.S. has been steadily rising and is now approaching pre-pandemic levels. U.S. consumer credit card delinquencies, a leading indicator of future charge-offs have also continued to rise and are now above pre-pandemic levels.

消費者行為的正常化推動了美國消費者信貸需求的增加和銀行貸款的成長，但也導致了沖銷的增加。自 2021 年底觸底以來，美國的信用卡沖銷率一直在穩步上升，目前已接近疫情前的水平。美國消費者信用卡拖欠率（未來沖銷的領先指標）也持續上升，目前已高於疫情前的水準。

With both lending and the charge-off rate growing simultaneously in the U.S, we are seeing continued strong growth in the U.S. market supply and improving pricing. As a result, we expect 2023 to be a record year for portfolio sales by U.S. banks and credit card issuers.

隨著美國貸款和核銷率同時成長，我們看到美國市場供應持續強勁成長，定價不斷改善。因此，我們預計 2023 年美國銀行和信用卡發行機構的投資組合銷售將創下紀錄。

With this favorable environment as a backdrop, our MCM business had another strong quarter of portfolio purchasing in Q3. MCM deployed $179 million at an attractive 2.4x purchase price multiple. The result of our disciplined purchasing approach amid an improving pricing environment.

在這種有利的環境背景下，我們的 MCM 業務在第三季的投資組合採購再次表現強勁。 MCM 以 2.4 倍的購買價倍數部署了 1.79 億美元。這是我們在不斷改善的定價環境中採取嚴格採購方法的結果。

Over the past 4 quarters, MCM has deployed $775 million and strong returns. To put that figure into proper context, MCM's current record for portfolio purchases for a full calendar year is $682 million in 2019. We see no signs of this favorable purchasing environment slowing down. In fact, the supply pipeline in the U.S. remains robust with MCM's fourth quarter purchasing expected to be above $200 million at a 2.4x multiple.

在過去的 4 個季度中，MCM 部署了 7.75 億美元並獲得了強勁的回報。為了正確理解這一數字，MCM 目前 2019 年全年投資組合購買記錄為 6.82 億美元。我們認為這種有利的購買環境沒有放緩的跡象。事實上，美國的供應管道仍然強勁，MCM 第四季的採購量預計將超過 2 億美元，成長了 2.4 倍。

This would establish a new record for MCM annual purchases. We cannot overstate the importance of our differentiated multiples, which are indicators of higher returns and their expected impact on future financial performance. This is particularly relevant as the number of our competitors are starting to face the realities of the prior purchasing and valuation decisions.

這將創造 MCM 年度採購量的新紀錄。我們不能誇大差異化本益比的重要性，它是更高回報及其對未來財務表現的預期影響的指標。這尤其重要，因為我們的許多競爭對手開始面對先前購買和評估決策的現實。

MCM collections in the third quarter were $330 million indicative of stable consumer behavior in the U.S. As market supply continues to grow in the U.S., MCM continues to expand internal collections capacity. Since the beginning of 2023 MCM has added 350 account managers to our collections operation.

第三季MCM系列產品達3.3億美元，顯示美國消費者行為穩定。隨著美國市場供應持續成長，MCM持續擴大內部系列產品產能。自 2023 年初以來，MCM 已為我們的收款業務增加了 350 名客戶經理。

Turning to our business in Europe. Cabot collections were $135 million in Q3, flat compared to recent quarters as the consumer's ability to pay remains steady in Cabot's markets. With U.K. credit card outstandings still 8% below pre-pandemic level and charge-off rates still very low, the markets in the U.K. and Continental Europe remained very competitive.

轉向我們在歐洲的業務。卡博特第三季的收款額為 1.35 億美元，與最近幾季持平，因為卡博特市場上消費者的支付能力保持穩定。由於英國信用卡未償餘額仍比疫情前水準低 8%，而且沖銷率仍然很低，英國和歐洲大陸的市場仍然非常有競爭力。

Cabot portfolio purchases in Q3 were $51 million. We continue to constrain Cabot portfolio purchases, reallocating capital to the U.S. market as we believe European market pricing still does not yet fully reflect the higher cost of capital caused by higher interest rates. Cabot remains an integral part of Encore's global business strategy and its markets are amongst the most meaningful debt purchasing markets in the world.

第三季卡博特投資組合採購額為 5,100 萬美元。我們繼續限制卡博特投資組合購買，將資本重新分配到美國市場，因為我們認為歐洲市場定價仍未完全反映利率上升導致的資本成本上升。卡博特仍然是 Encore 全球業務策略不可或缺的一部分，其市場是世界上最有意義的債務購買市場之一。

But as we have said in the past, ultimately, pricing will need to align with higher funding costs before we allocate additional capital towards growing our deployments in Europe. We continue to prudently manage the Cabot cost structure given the reduced level of portfolio purchases in recent quarters.

但正如我們過去所說，最終，在我們分配額外資本用於擴大歐洲部署之前，定價需要與更高的融資成本保持一致。鑑於最近幾季投資組合採購水準下降，我們將繼續謹慎管理卡博特成本結構。

The second pillar of our strategy focuses on enhancing our competitive advantages. We have built a business around certain key competencies that allow us to deliver differentiated returns and earnings as well as generate significant cash flow. Our disciplined purchasing and superior collections effectiveness enable us to purchase portfolios at strong purchase price multiples.

我們策略的第二個支柱著重於增強我們的競爭優勢。我們圍繞著某些關鍵能力建立了業務，使我們能夠提供差異化的回報和收益，並產生大量現金流。我們嚴格的採購和卓越的收款效率使我們能夠以強勁的購買價格倍數購買投資組合。

Then over time, our continuous collection improvement efforts have enabled us to collect substantially more from both current and historical portfolio vintages. This in turn raises a current multiple for each vintage even higher and helps drive our differentiated returns. As a result of this diligent focus on returns, MCM's 2.4x multiple for Q3 purchases has raised the purchase multiple for U.S. portfolios purchased on a year-to-date basis to 2.3x.

隨著時間的推移，我們不斷改進收藏，使我們能夠從當前和歷史的投資組合年份中收集更多的收藏。這反過來又使每個年份的當前倍數更高，並有助於推動我們的差異化回報。由於對回報的不懈關注，MCM 第三季購買的倍數為 2.4 倍，已將年初至今購買的美國投資組合的購買倍數提高至 2.3 倍。

We look forward to another strong quarter in Q4 and also see a robust supply pipeline in the U.S. for 2024. As the market supply remains elevated in the U.S. and the pricing environment continues to improve, MCM's ERC is steadily growing.

我們期待第四季度又一個強勁的季度，並看到 2024 年美國的供應管道強勁。隨著美國市場供應量持續增加以及定價環境持續改善，MCM 的 ERC 正在穩步增長。

Importantly, as the pricing continues to improve, we expect to collect more for every dollar of capital deployed. The significant amount of ERC we are adding each quarter reflects the efficiency of our capital deployment during this portion of the credit cycle. Our portfolio purchasing in the third quarter clearly illustrates this point.

重要的是，隨著定價的不斷提高，我們預期每投入一美元資本就能獲得更多收益。我們每季增加的大量 ERC 反映了我們在信貸週期的這一部分的資本部署效率。我們在第三季的投資組合採購清楚地說明了這一點。

MCM's deployment in Q3 was 1.5% higher than in the third quarter a year ago. Yet we added 20% more ERC from these more recent purchases at higher multiples. This is the portion of the cycle we've been anticipating. Our MCM business is in full stride purchasing portfolios at strong returns, which adds future cash flows and profitability to the business.

MCM 第三季的部署量比去年同期高出 1.5%。然而，我們從這些最近的購買中以更高的倍數增加了 20% 的 ERC。這是我們一直期待的周期的一部分。我們的 MCM 業務正在全力採購投資組合，回報豐厚，這增加了業務的未來現金流和獲利能力。

We believe that our ability to generate significant cash provides us an important competitive advantage, which is also a key component of the second pillar of our strategy. In the U.S. from 2020 through the first half of 2022, lower consumer spending, credit card balances and charge-off rates drove reduced market supply in our industry and also led to higher connections for our business.

我們相信，我們產生大量現金的能力為我們提供了重要的競爭優勢，這也是我們策略第二支柱的關鍵組成部分。在美國，從 2020 年到 2022 年上半年，消費者支出、信用卡餘額和沖銷率的下降導致我們行業的市場供應減少，也導致我們的業務聯繫增加。

When consumer behavior began to normalize and incremental cash generation from these higher collections began to subside, our cash generation came under pressure as the prolonged period of lower portfolio purchases then led to reduced overall collections.

當消費者行為開始正常化並且來自這些較高收藏品的增量現金產生開始消退時，我們的現金產生面臨壓力，因為長期較低的投資組合購買導致整體收藏品減少。

More recently, however, higher portfolio purchases and improving pricing over the past few quarters has reversed this trend, enabling our cash generation to begin to grow again. This is a trend we expect will continue.

然而，最近，過去幾季投資組合購買量的增加和定價的改善扭轉了這一趨勢，使我們的現金產生能力再次開始成長。我們預計這一趨勢將持續下去。

I'd now like to hand the call over to Jon for a more detailed look at our financial results and to provide an update on the third pillar of our strategy, balance sheet strength.

我現在想將電話轉交給喬恩，以便更詳細地了解我們的財務業績，並提供我們策略的第三個支柱——資產負債表實力的最新資訊。

Thank you, Ashish. The third quarter was another period of strong purchasing for our U.S. business at attractive returns, while our collections performance remained stable in each of our key markets.

謝謝你，阿什什。第三季是我們美國業務強勁採購的另一個時期，回報頗具吸引力，而我們的系列產品在每個主要市場的表現均保持穩定。

Collections were in line with expectations for the quarter, and we had small adjustments to our ERC, which impacted earnings in a negative way. I'd like to highlight a few items and provide more detail. Interest expense in Q3 of $51 million which was sequentially flat, has grown since last year, primarily due to last year's increase in interest rates and higher debt balance related to our increased portfolio purchasing.

收款符合本季的預期，我們對 ERC 進行了小幅調整，這對收益產生了負面影響。我想強調一些項目並提供更多細節。第三季的利息支出為 5,100 萬美元，與上一季持平，自去年以來有所增長，主要是由於去年利率上升以及與我們增加投資組合購買相關的債務餘額增加。

Q3 collections of $465 million resulted in $4 million of recoveries below forecast, thus reducing Q3 EPS by $0.16. Changes in expected future recoveries totaling $13 million, reduced Q3 EPS by $0.44. Together, changes in recoveries reduced Q3 revenues by $17 million and reduced Q3 earnings by $0.60.

第三季收款額為 4.65 億美元，回收金額低於預期 400 萬美元，使第三季每股收益減少 0.16 美元。預期未來復甦的變化總計 1,300 萬美元，導致第三季每股收益減少 0.44 美元。總而言之，復甦的變化使第三季收入減少了 1,700 萬美元，第三季收益減少了 0.60 美元。

ERC at the end of the quarter was up 8% compared to a year ago. It bears repeating that CECL accounting can cause significant fluctuations in quarterly reported results, but they do converge with cash results over the long term. This is yet another reason that we believe it's important to take the long view of our financial metrics. This is consistent with the way we run the business and make decisions, employing a long-term perspective to building shareholder value.

本季末的 ERC 較去年同期成長 8%。值得重申的是，CECL 會計可能會導致季度報告業績出現重大波動，但從長遠來看，它們確實與現金業績趨同。這是我們認為從長遠角度看待我們的財務指標很重要的另一個原因。這與我們經營業務和決策的方式一致，以長遠的眼光來創造股東價值。

Breaking our global collection results down into our 2 major businesses, MCM's collections in the U.S. grew 1% compared to Q3 last year. Cabot's collections in the third quarter grew 2%. For both MCM and Cabot collections in Q3 were in line with expectations.

將我們的全球收款結果細分為兩大主要業務，MCM 在美國的收款結果與去年第三季相比成長了 1%。卡博特第三季的產品系列成長了 2%。 MCM 和 Cabot 第三季的產品系列都符合預期。

For portfolios owned at the end of 2022, Encore's global collections performance year-to-date through the third quarter was 97% of our year-end portfolio ERC.

對於 2022 年底擁有的投資組合，Encore 年初至今到第三季的全球收藏業績占我們年終投資組合 ERC 的 97%。

For MCM and for Cabot, collections through Q3 by the same measure were 97% and 98%, respectively. All 3 of these figures through the third quarter were identical to our first half performance.

對於 MCM 和 Cabot，截至第三季以相同衡量標準的收款率分別為 97% 和 98%。第三季的所有這些數據都與我們上半年的表現相同。

The third pillar of our strategy ensures that strength of our balance sheet is a constant priority. When compared to the pre-pandemic years, Encore has become a much stronger company. We now have a unified global funding structure that provides us with financial flexibility, diversified sources of financing and extended maturities.

我們策略的第三個支柱確保我們的資產負債表實力始終是首要任務。與疫情大流行前相比，Encore 已成為一家更強大的公司。我們現在擁有統一的全球融資結構，為我們提供了財務靈活性、多元化的融資來源和更長的期限。

Over the past several years, our strong operating performance and focused capital deployment, drove higher levels of cash generation and contributed to a lower level of debt, which reduced our leverage significantly.

過去幾年，我們強勁的經營業績和集中的資本配置推動了現金產生水準的提高，並降低了債務水平，從而顯著降低了我們的槓桿率。

More recently, our leverage has risen driven by lower collections and increased portfolio purchasing during each of the last 4 quarters. But now as collections environment has stabilized, we are seeing our leverage level off as we expected it would.

最近，在過去 4 個季度中，由於收藏品減少和投資組合購買增加，我們的槓桿率上升。但現在隨著收款環境已經穩定，我們看到我們的槓桿率如我們預期的那樣趨於平穩。

With our strong balance sheet, we remain well positioned to fund the portfolio purchasing opportunities that lie ahead. With interest rates and with higher interest rates and continued challenging conditions in the bond markets, the importance of our global funding structure cannot be overstated.

憑藉我們強大的資產負債表，我們仍然能夠為未來的投資組合購買機會提供資金。隨著利率的上升以及債券市場持續面臨的挑戰，我們全球融資結構的重要性怎麼強調都不為過。

We believe our balance sheet provides us very competitive funding costs when compared to our peers and competitors. Our funding structure also provides us financial flexibility and diversified funding sources to compete effectively in this growing supply environment.

我們相信，與同業和競爭對手相比，我們的資產負債表為我們提供了非常有競爭力的融資成本。我們的融資結構也為我們提供了財務靈活性和多元化的融資來源，以便在不斷增長的供應環境中有效競爭。

In October, we made good use of this flexibility by adding $175 million of incremental liquidity to our balance sheet as we prepare for the robust supply pipeline we see in the U.S. in 2024. To achieve this, we entered into a $175 million facility secured by U.S. receivable portfolios. We also extended the maturity of the Cabot securitization facility to September 2028 and reduced its size by GBP 95 million to GBP 255 million. In addition, we issued an incremental EUR 100 million of our 2028 floating rate notes as a follow-on tap of our December 2020 offering.

10 月，我們充分利用了這種靈活性，在資產負債表中增加了1.75 億美元的增量流動性，為2024 年美國強勁的供應管道做準備。為了實現這一目標，我們簽訂了一項1.75 億美元的融資協議，由美國應收帳款組合。我們也將卡博特證券化工具的期限延長至 2028 年 9 月，並將其規模減少 9,500 萬英鎊至 2.55 億英鎊。此外，我們也發行了 2028 年浮動利率票據的 1 億歐元，作為 2020 年 12 月發行的後續發行。

With that, I'd like to turn it back over to Ashish.

有了這個，我想把它轉回給 Ashish。

Before I close, I'd like to remind everyone of our commitment to a consistent set of financial priorities that we established long ago. The importance of a strong diversified balance sheet in our industry cannot be overstated, especially as the highly anticipated growth in market supply has arrived in the U.S.

在結束之前，我想提醒大家，我們對很久以前製定的一套一致的財務優先事項的承諾。強大的多元化資產負債表對我們產業的重要性怎麼強調都不為過，特別是在美國市場供應的預期成長已經到來的情況下。

We will continue to be good stewards of your capital by always taking the long view and prioritizing portfolio purchases at attractive returns in order to build long-term shareholder value. I'd also like to summarize the competitive advantages, especially during a time when a number of our competitors are dealing with their own challenges.

我們將繼續做好您資本的管家，始終著眼長遠，優先考慮以有吸引力的回報進行投資組合購買，以建立長期股東價值。我還想總結一下競爭優勢，特別是在我們的許多競爭對手都在應對自己的挑戰的時候。

These advantages differentiate our business in the industry and long-term financial results are the evidence. First, we are the largest player in the U.S. tech purchasing market, which is -- also happens to be the world's largest market with the highest returns.

這些優勢使我們的業務在業界脫穎而出，長期財務表現就是證據。首先，我們是美國科技採購市場最大的參與者，而這也恰好是世界上報酬率最高的最大市場。

Second, we believe our ability to collect on the portfolios we buy and a corresponding purchase price multiples are best-in-class. We collect more over a vintages lifetime, which in turn generates more cash, more earnings, and ultimately higher returns.

其次，我們相信我們購買的投資組合的回收能力以及相應的購買價格倍數是同類中最好的。我們在葡萄酒的一生中收集了更多的葡萄酒，這反過來又產生了更多的現金、更多的收入，並最終帶來更高的回報。

Third, our well-diversified global balance sheet allows us to allocate capital to opportunities with the highest returns. This flexibility is vital as demonstrated by a reallocation of capital from our Cabot business in Europe to our MCM business in the U.S. in order to maximize overall returns.

第三，我們多元化的全球資產負債表使我們能夠將資本分配給回報率最高的機會。這種靈活性至關重要，我們將資本從歐洲的卡博特業務重新分配到美國的 MCM 業務，以實現整體回報最大化，這一點就證明了這一點。

Our balance sheet also provides us the flexibility to fund our business in a myriad of ways. This provides a significant advantage in times when traditional markets become less certain and more expensive.

我們的資產負債表也使我們能夠靈活地以多種方式為我們的業務提供資金。當傳統市場變得不太確定且更昂貴時，這提供了顯著的優勢。

And finally, our $8 billion of ERC has been built using a consistent, disciplined purchasing approach and represents an enormous capability to generate cash.

最後，我們 80 億美元的 ERC 是採用一致、嚴格的採購方法建立的，代表著龐大的現金產生能力。

We believe these competitive advantages supported by a mission, vision and values, truly differentiate Encore's standing in the debt purchasing industry. As the credit cycle continues to turn, we are committed to the essential role we play in the credit ecosystem. Through the great work our colleagues around the world are doing to help an increasing number of consumers, restore their financial health.

我們相信，這些由使命、願景和價值觀所支持的競爭優勢，真正使 Encore 在債務購買產業中脫穎而出。隨著信貸週期的不斷轉變，我們致力於在信貸生態系統中發揮重要作用。透過我們世界各地的同事所做的出色工作，幫助越來越多的消費者恢復財務健康。

In closing, as a result of the continued disciplined execution of our strategy, we believe Encore is the best positioned company in our sector. We have the operational capability and balance sheet to capitalize on the substantial and growing portfolio purchasing opportunity in the U.S. market. Looking ahead, we expect 2023 will be a record year of capital deployment in the U.S. for our MCM business at strong returns.

最後，由於我們持續嚴格執行我們的策略，我們相信 Encore 是我們行業中定位最好的公司。我們擁有充分利用美國市場大量且不斷增長的投資組合購買機會的營運能力和資產負債表。展望未來，我們預計 2023 年將是我們的 MCM 業務在美國資本部署創紀錄的一年，並獲得強勁回報。

We see a robust supply pipeline in the U.S. for 2024 with even better returns. We plan to remain disciplined in the highly competitive and valuable European market and will only allocate significantly more capital when the returns become more attractive, which we expect will happen over time. And we expect steady growth in ERC and earnings.

我們預期 2024 年美國的供應管道將十分強勁，回報率甚至更高。我們計劃在競爭激烈且有價值的歐洲市場中保持紀律，只有當回報變得更具吸引力時才會配置更多的資本，我們預計隨著時間的推移，這種情況將會發生。我們預計 ERC 和獲利將穩定成長。

Now we'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Operator, please open up the lines for questions.

現在我們很樂意回答您的任何問題。接線員，請開通提問線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Mark Hughes from Truist Securities.

（操作員指示）我們的第一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Mark Hughes。

Jonathan, if we think about your collections, you're at 97% of forecast -- if that stays kind of at the current level, would we perhaps anticipate more changes in expected recoveries, $17 million in this quarter is obviously a very small amount relative to your overall receivables balance in ERC. But is the portfolio, does it already reflect 97% and to another 97% would be in line or if it stays at 97%, would there be elevated risk of more adjustments?

喬納森，如果我們考慮您的收藏，您的預測已達到 97%，如果保持在當前水平，我們可能會預期預期回收率會發生更多變化，本季度的 1700 萬美元顯然是一個非常小的數字相對於ERC 中的整體應收帳款餘額。但投資組合是否已經反映了 97%，並且與另外 97% 保持一致，或者如果保持在 97%，是否會增加更多調整的風險？

Yes, it's a great question, Mark. But just to clear up any confusion. The 97% refers to our ERC as of the end of 2022. So the purpose of that metric is really so people understand more longer term, if you will, how close you are to hitting that ERC forecast that was created as of that date.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，馬克。但只是為了消除任何混亂。 97% 指的是我們截至 2022 年底的 ERC。因此，該指標的目的實際上是讓人們從更長遠的角度（如果願意的話）了解您距離達到截至該日期創建的 ERC 預測有多近。

You need to remember, there are 2 things that impact your ERC after that. One, you're now buying more portfolio. And so if you will, anything that you purchased during the course of 2023 is not included in that number, and in addition, as you know, every quarter, we go through a process where we evaluate and establish what our best guess is for a forecast going forward. And by definition, that's going to move quarter-on-quarter. So I understand your question. I understand where it comes from, but you shouldn't take that as an indicator of any future PCL charges.

您需要記住，此後有兩件事會影響您的 ERC。第一，你現在正在購買更多的投資組合。因此，如果您願意的話，您在2023 年期間購買的任何商品都不包含在該數字中，此外，如您所知，每個季度我們都會進行一個流程，評估並確定我們對某個產品的最佳猜測。預測未來。根據定義，這將逐季度變化。所以我理解你的問題。我了解它的來源，但您不應將其視為未來任何 PCL 費用的指標。

I think it does. If I restate it, the portfolio is mark-to-market and already takes into account your expectations based on the recent history. Is that fair?

我認為確實如此。如果我重申一下，該投資組合是按市值計價的，並且已經考慮了您根據最近歷史記錄的預期。這樣公平嗎？

Correct. And in addition, you've added obviously, all your purchases from 2023.

正確的。此外，您顯然還添加了 2023 年以來的所有購買商品。

And if I could add to that, Mark, this is Ashish. The 2023 purchases, as you will see later on in the Q, are well exceeding our expectations. So -- some of the negative charges were around '21, '22 in order vintages, but '23 is exceeding those.

如果我可以補充一點，馬克，這是阿什什。正如您將在稍後的季度中看到的，2023 年的採購量遠遠超出了我們的預期。因此，一些負電荷在 21 年、22 年左右（按年份排列），但 23 年超過了這些。

I mean, those circumstances, looking at some of these charge-off numbers and seeing doubling or so across certain issuers -- why haven't you bought more paper? Is -- any change in behavior of the banks in terms of selling? Is this a natural lag, you being more selective? I wonder if you could just comment on that dynamic.

我的意思是，在這些情況下，看看其中一些沖銷數字，發現某些發行人的沖銷數字翻了一番左右——為什麼你沒有購買更多的票據？銀行在銷售方面的行為有什麼改變嗎？這是自然的滯後嗎？你的選擇性更強嗎？我想知道你是否可以對這一動態發表評論。

Yes, so we are buying more. As I indicated, Mark, we are buying a record amounts for MCM, over $200 million for 2 quarters, and this 1 is closed. And what matters is not what just you spend, but how much ERC you add.

是的，所以我們購買更多。正如我所指出的，馬克，我們正在為 MCM 購買創紀錄的金額，兩個季度超過 2 億美元，而這個季度已經結束。重要的不是你花了多少錢，而是你增加了多少 ERC。

So the face amount, if you look at the chart of U.S. lending in charge-offs, pre-pandemic, post-pandemic actually, if you multiply with 2, it will look pretty close. But the deployment opportunity is higher because some of the banks who are selling their charge-off rates are increasing at an even higher rate.

所以，如果你看一下美國貸款在大流行前和大流行後的沖銷圖表，如果你乘以 2，它看起來會非常接近。但部署機會更大，因為一些出售沖銷率的銀行正在以更高的速度成長。

And then we are spending the same amount of money or actually more, and we're getting even more for that same spend. So we are adding ERC at a very record rate as we've shown on that 1 slide in our presentation.

然後我們花同樣數量的錢，甚至更多，而同樣的花我們得到的甚至更多。因此，我們正在以創紀錄的速度添加 ERC，正如我們在簡報中的第一張投影片中所展示的那樣。

Appreciate that. And then the 2022 vintage, you show in your slide deck that it is a little bit below initial expectations. How have you seen that performing here lately? If you look at the last quarter, I guess we'll see in the Q. But how are you feeling about that vintage?

感謝。然後是 2022 年年份，您在幻燈片中顯示它略低於最初的預期。您最近在這裡的表演感覺如何？如果你看看上個季度，我想我們會在問題中看到。但是你對那個年份感覺如何？

It's performing fine at this point. I mean, what the reflection of that multiple changes, as we have indicated, I think, in a call or 2 prior that as the valuations, when we were buying '21 and '22, we were coming off of a high collection period for the pandemic and valuations take time to adjust.

目前它表現良好。我的意思是，正如我們所指出的，我認為，在之前的一兩次電話會議中，當我們購買“21”和“22”時，我們正處於高收集期，因此多重變化的反映是什麼？疫情和估值需要時間調整。

Pricing really hasn't improved. So that was more of a driver. And as that has been adjusted over the past several quarters, it's performing very consistently and no major changes. There's nothing particularly unique about it in that sense, in terms of the paper we bought. It's just performance expectations is the big driver of those slight movements in the total multiple of ERC. It's waving like 2020, 2021 vintage actually.

定價確實沒有改善。所以這更像是個司機。由於過去幾個季度的調整，它的表現非常一致，沒有重大變化。就我們購買的紙張而言，從這個意義上來說，它並沒有什麼特別獨特的地方。性能預期是 ERC 總倍數輕微變動的主要驅動力。實際上，它就像 2020 年、2021 年的年份一樣在波動。

Our next question comes from the line of John Rowan from Janney Montgomery Scott.

我們的下一個問題來自詹尼·蒙哥馬利·斯科特的約翰·羅文。

So I guess just trying to understand the MCM purchases took a dip in the quarter relative to the prior 2 quarters and then relative to the guidance that you gave for the fourth quarter. Why is it apparently just a little bit weaker in the third quarter?

因此，我想只是想了解 MCM 採購量在本季度相對於前兩個季度以及相對於您為第四季度給出的指導有所下降。為什麼第三季明顯有點疲軟？

I wouldn't call it weak. It's just a reflection of what portfolios come to market, some of the flows, they may increase or decrease in sizes. It's just a normal volatility you might expect quarter-over-quarter. There's nothing special about it in terms of why is it 179 versus 213 in the prior 2 quarters.

我不會稱之為弱者。這只是反映了進入市場的投資組合，其中一些流量，它們的規模可能會增加或減少。這只是您可能預期的季度環比的正常波動。就為什麼它是 179 比前兩個季度的 213 而言，並沒有什麼特別之處。

So we are buying at very good rate and being -- also being selective so that pricing reflects what it should, given higher cost of capital and kind of what the market supply-demand dynamics are. So we are staying disciplined and making sure the pricing direction we're able to fully capitalize on that, if you would.

因此，考慮到較高的資本成本和市場供需動態，我們正在以非常好的價格購買，並且也有選擇性，以便定價反映應有的情況。因此，我們將保持紀律，並確保定價方向我們能夠充分利用這一點，如果您願意的話。

So it just can ebb and flow a little bit. But if you look at cumulative year, given our expectation of 200, it is going to exceed the last record quarter by a huge margin, which was in 2019.

所以它只會有一點潮起潮落。但如果你看看累計年份，考慮到我們對 200 的預期，它將大幅超過上一個創紀錄的季度，即 2019 年。

Okay. I was a little surprised to see the negative revision just given the comments that you made back in August about -- or after the note deal, that the portfolio is performing in line with kind of the marks. When you look at December '22 relative to the first half of the year through August, it was consistent with the first half of the year. So I would assume at that point, there probably wasn't a negative revision through at least 2 months of the year. Was September notably weaker than the other 2 months?

好的。考慮到您在八月或票據交易之後發表的評論，我有點驚訝地看到負面修正，即投資組合的表現符合某種標記。當你比較 22 月 22 日至 8 月的上半年情況時，會發現它與上半年是一致的。因此，我認為在這一點上，一年中至少有 2 個月可能沒有出現負面修正。 9 月明顯弱於其他 2 個月？

That's not the case, John. So let me explain a few things here, right? The first is September was no different than another 2 months. It's just whatever normal seasonality and performance is. That's number one.

事實並非如此，約翰。那麼讓我在這裡解釋一些事情吧？第一個是九月，與另外兩個月沒有什麼不同。這只是正常的季節性和表現。這是第一名。

Number two, when we said performance was in line with what we have said previously, it's a 97% number that Jon talked about, that 97% at the end of Q2 was against the December 2022 ERC. And we said, Q3, we are seeing the same 97% for the 2 months. And at the end of Q3, which includes September, we still have that 97% in our script in presentation.

第二，當我們說性能與我們之前所說的一致時，Jon 談到的是 97% 的數字，第二季末的 97% 是針對 2022 年 12 月 ERC 的。我們說，第三季度，我們看到這 2 個月的 97% 是相同的。在第三季末（包括 9 月），我們的簡報中仍有 97% 的內容。

Now -- you mentioned the revisions. So if you noticed in our Q, the performance above or below recoveries is just $4 million number. If you put that in context, that's less than 1% or barely 1% impact in terms of the forecast. So -- that's very close to expectations and better than the 97%, which it was because the forecast has changed, but also the '23 vintage that's overperforming. So those 2 factors that Jon talked about.

現在——你提到了修訂。因此，如果您在我們的問題中註意到，高於或低於回收率的表現僅為 400 萬美元。如果您將其放在上下文中，就預測而言，影響不到 1% 或僅 1%。所以——這非常接近預期，並且比 97% 更好，這是因為預測發生了變化，而且 23 年份的表現也超出了預期。喬恩談到的這兩個因素。

So $4 million is just less than 1%. And the other 1 is changes in ERC. Some of it is actually timing. As timing changes and we forecast every vintage, the change is way less than 1% on that ERC as well. But it's the small changes that can cause quarterly variations. So that's why 1 have to look at it over the long term. If you start back in '21 -- in 2022, Q1, we've had significant upward revisions and then some downwards. So over time, it adds up. And as Jon has said and we have said accounting will equal cash over the full life of the vintage.

所以 400 萬美元還不到 1%。另外1是ERC的變動。其中一些實際上是時機。隨著時間的變化以及我們對每個年份的預測，該 ERC 上的變化也遠小於 1%。但正是這些微小的變化才可能導致季度變化。這就是為什麼我必須從長遠來看。如果你從 21 年開始，也就是 2022 年第一季度，我們會進行重大的向上修正，然後進行一些向下修正。所以隨著時間的推移，它會增加。正如喬恩所說，我們也說過，在葡萄酒的整個生命週期內，會計將等於現金。

Our next question comes from the line of Mike Grondahl from Northland.

我們的下一個問題來自北國的麥克·格隆達爾。

Could you give us any color into sort of the impairments? Would you say that's more macro inflation driven sort of I'm trying to understand the why student loan driven maybe? And then secondly, what years were most affecting negatively?

能為我們介紹一下這些缺陷的具體情況嗎？你會說這更多是宏觀通膨驅動的嗎？我試圖理解為什麼學生貸款可能驅動？其次，哪些年份產生的負面影響最大？

Yes, Mike. So -- as I just mentioned in the response to the previous question, the performance of collections under forecast was less than 1%. And it was -- if you look at any forecast, that's a pretty good outcome to attribute that to any 1 variable, that would not be possible or the right thing to do.

是的，麥克。因此，正如我剛才在回答上一個問題時提到的，預測下的集合表現不到 1%。如果你看一下任何預測，將其歸因於任何 1 個變數都是相當好的結果，但這是不可能的或正確的做法。

Now we -- given your student loan comment, we've actually gone and looked given the changes that have just come about. We track every call. We've looked at speech data. Then they found the consumers really not impacted by student loan payments, at least in our consumer base.

現在，鑑於您對學生貸款的評論，我們實際上已經考慮了剛剛發生的變化。我們跟蹤每一個電話。我們查看了語音數據。然後他們發現消費者確實沒有受到學生貸款支付的影響，至少在我們的消費者群中是如此。

We found much less than 1% of consumers even mentioned student loan repayment as part of a long conversation with the account manager. So it's minuscule and immaterial from that point of view. Again, I just want to call out the impairment you mentioned that's a $4 million collections under forecast, and it's a very small percent of the total ERC or the book value.

我們發現，只有不到 1% 的消費者在與客戶經理的長時間對話中提到了學生貸款償還問題。所以從這個角度來看，它是微不足道且無關緊要的。再次，我只想指出你提到的減值，即預測的 400 萬美元收款損失，而它只佔總 ERC 或帳面價值的很小一部分。

Got it. And the second question was just sort of what years were most affected. It sounds like '21 and '22 are where your biggest headaches are. Can you verify that? And then just sort of -- how do you determine that the impairment is enough? I mean, why shouldn't it be more?

知道了。第二個問題是哪些年份受到的影響最大。聽起來'21和'22是你最頭痛的地方。你能證實一下嗎？然後，你如何確定減損是否足夠？我的意思是，為什麼不應該更多？

Yes. That's a good question. Sorry, I didn't address Mike. So actually in our Q by vintage will be disclosed the changes in recovery. Now I recognize that's a combination of actual performance plus any change in the forecast of the timing.

是的。這是個好問題。抱歉，我沒有對麥克說話。所以實際上在我們的 Q by vintage 中將會揭露恢復的變化。現在我認識到這是實際表現加上時間預測的任何變化的組合。

So the biggest numbers were 2021 and then would be '22 and 2019, which actually had overperformed in the past and the positive was 2023. Again, I'm talking U.S. vintages. And on Cabot's European vintages, they are across spread across, and there are some positives and some negatives. So to your other question, we always have the best estimate prepared for every quarter. And then we look at past data and put our process, that's heavily audited and whatnot to make any revisions to the forecast every quarter.

因此，最大的數字是 2021 年，然後是 22 年和 2019 年，它們在過去實際上表現出色，而積極的年份是 2023 年。再說一遍，我說的是美國年份。在卡博特的歐洲年份葡萄酒中，它們分佈廣泛，有一些積極的一面，也有一些消極的一面。因此，對於你的另一個問題，我們總是為每季準備最好的估算。然後我們查看過去的數據並進行嚴格的審核，並對每個季度的預測進行修訂。

So at this point, in our best estimate, we've incorporated everything that's out there. Now if you add cumulatively take the 9-month view, some of those vintages have taken some of those hits over the quarters, but 2023 vintage has continued to outperform the initial expectations as well. So there's some puts and there's takes.

因此，在這一點上，根據我們的最佳估計，我們已經整合了現有的所有內容。現在，如果您從 9 個月的角度來看，其中一些年份在幾個季度中受到了一些打擊，但 2023 年年份的表現也繼續超出了最初的預期。所以有一些看跌期權，也有一些看跌期權。

Got it. And I mean this is the fourth quarter in a row that I think sadly, we're spending too much time talking about impairments and maybe not enough time talking about the robust purchases or the purchase pipeline. But because it's been 4 quarters in a row, do you guys, I don't know, get any latitude to maybe increase the provision just so we're not dealing with this or continually dealing with it?

知道了。我的意思是，我悲傷地認為，這是連續第四個季度，我們花了太多時間談論減值，而可能沒有足夠的時間談論強勁的採購或採購管道。但因為已經連續四個季度了，我不知道你們是否有任何自由度來增加撥款，這樣我們就不會處理這個問題或繼續處理它？

No, it does not work that way. Jon can chime in as well. But -- and again, for the 4 quarters, the 3 quarters have been very small. And I wouldn't call the word impairment. This is per CECL, your forecast and then you have performance or under and then you have a change in forecast, right?

不，它不是那樣工作的。喬恩也可以插話。但是，再說一次，對於 4 個季度來說，3 個季度的規模非常小。我不會稱這個詞為「損傷」。這是根據 CECL，你的預測，然後你的表現或低於，然後你的預測發生變化，對嗎？

So I would also remind Q1 2022, Q2 2022 for U.S., we had very, very large increases in future expected recoveries of $125 million in Q1, and I'm going by memory, maybe $60 million in MCM for Q2. So Again, if you take a longer view, there are some puts and takes, and I agree with you, these are just small variations to talk about as much time.

因此，我還要提醒美國2022 年第一季和2022 年第二季度，我們在第一季度的未來預期回收額有非常非常大的增長，達到1.25 億美元，而且我憑記憶，第二季度的MCM 可能會增加6000 萬美元。所以，再說一遍，如果你把目光放得更長遠，你會發現一些看跌和看跌，我同意你的觀點，這些只是一些小的變化，需要盡可能多的時間來討論。

The thing that we're most excited about, as you mentioned, is the strong purchasing MCM is doing, the capital allocation we can do from Europe to U.S. and the multiples we are seeing and the ERC we are building up for future collections, revenues and therefore earnings.

正如您所提到的，我們最興奮的事情是 MCM 正在進行的強勁採購、我們可以從歐洲到美國進行的資本配置、我們看到的倍數以及我們正在為未來的收款、收入建立的 ERC以及因此產生的收入。

If I can just chime in. I just want to -- Mike, I just want to make sure you understand -- and I don't want anybody on the call to think that this is anything other than a very, very rigorous process that we go through in order to determine what our forecast is.

如果我能插話的話。我只是想——麥克，我只是想確保你理解——我不希望電話中的任何人認為這不是一個非常非常嚴格的過程，我們會仔細檢查以確定我們的預測。

It is highly audited because it's so impactful to the P&L. And so we have a very, very strict process, very structured process of how we go about it. And then to the extent that you have a model that generates something and you have to have some kind of overlay or adjustment that has to be defended as to why it makes sense to do that.

它經過嚴格審計，因為它對損益表影響很大。因此，我們有一個非常非常嚴格的流程，非常結構化的流程來引導我們如何做。然後，如果你有一個可以產生某些東西的模型，並且你必須有某種覆蓋或調整，那麼必須捍衛為什麼這樣做是有意義的。

And we are -- the important thing to remember, I know Ashish mentioned this, but this isn't an impairment. This is just an adjustment because impairment when 1 takes an impairment from an accounting perspective, that's a permanent thing. This is not permanent. We don't know what the future will hold. All we know is what the models tell us, and we make the adjustments as we need them, right?

我們要記住的重要一點是，我知道阿什什提到了這一點，但這並不是一種傷害。這只是一項調整，因為當 1 從會計角度考慮減損時，減損是永久性的。這不是永久的。我們不知道未來會怎樣。我們所知道的就是模型告訴我們的內容，然後我們根據需要進行調整，對吧？

Yes. Fair enough, impairment might be a strong word, but it's still kind of a write-down to some extent on the pool. Hopefully, we don't have to talk about these next quarter.

是的。公平地說，減損可能是一個很重的詞，但在某種程度上它仍然是對資金池的減記。希望我們下個季度不必談論這些。

Our next question comes from the line of Robert Dodd of Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自雷蒙德·詹姆斯的羅伯特·多德。

A couple of questions, on the adjustment. And to your point, this, I mean, the 2023 is, I can say, it's a $6.9 million upward over the 9 months this year. This time last year, though the 2022s were getting written up as well, if I remember right.

關於調整的幾個問題。就你的觀點而言，我的意思是，我可以說，2023 年比今年 9 個月增加了 690 萬美元。去年的這個時候，如果我沒記錯的話，2022 年也被寫出來了。

So can you -- and I know to Jonathan's point, it's continue our best efforts to get the curb side. But how confident are you that the behavior you saw in the '22s from early outperformance to where we are today, where there's a little bit of underperformance, it seems. How confident are you that, that type of behavior isn't going to occur with the '23s?

你也可以嗎——我知道喬納森的觀點，我們將繼續盡最大努力到達路邊。但是，您對 22 世紀 22 年代從早期表現出色到今天的表現（似乎表現有點不佳）的行為有信心嗎？您對 23 歲的人不會發生這種行為有多大信心？

Robert. So 1 thing I would just correct or add to your -- you pointed out $6.9 million. That's just for the 3 months. And actually, for the 2023, 9 months, it is $16.7 million overall revision. So I just wanted to kind of correct that.

羅伯特.所以我要糾正或添加一件事——你指出了 690 萬美元。這只是3個月的時間。實際上，2023 年 9 個月的整體修訂金額為 1,670 萬美元。所以我只是想糾正這一點。

Now -- in terms of payment behavior, let me just step back from all these minor adjustments on each vintages forecast because we do our best possible estimate for each. We are seeing a very stable payment U.S. consumer payment behavior. As we've said in the past, we are -- our valuation models in 2021 and 2022 were adapting to changes from the pandemic levels of high collections.

現在，就支付行為而言，讓我先從每個年份預測的所有這些細微調整中退一步，因為我們對每個年份都做了盡可能最好的估計。我們看到美國消費者的支付行為非常穩定。正如我們過去所說，我們 2021 年和 2022 年的估值模型正在適應高藏品大流行水準的變化。

It takes some time. There's a lag at times. The valuation models were adjusting and they have adjusted because '23 overperforming. But that said, every vintage, we look at it at a very granular level in the forecast and are confident in that forecast as we sit today, and then we look at it again in 3 months.

這需要一些時間。有時會有滯後。估值模型正在調整，而且它們已經調整，因為 23 年表現優異。但話雖如此，對於每個年份，我們都會在預測中進行非常細緻的評估，並且對今天的預測充滿信心，然後我們會在 3 個月後再次進行評估。

So that's how that process works. But overall, the consumer behavior is very stable, unlike what some competitors out there may be saying or what not, we found post-pandemic, consumers have a little bit less cash to making smaller down payments, but setting up payment plans. And we just looked at our data again, our data is consistently showing payment plans are holding up really steady, very well in the U.S. market in the U.S. business.

這就是過程的運作方式。但總體而言，消費者行為非常穩定，不像一些競爭對手可能會說或不說的那樣，我們發現大流行後，消費者用於支付較小首付的現金有所減少，但可以製定付款計劃。我們再次查看了我們的數據，我們的數據始終顯示美國業務的美國市場的付款計劃非常穩定，非常好。

So we feel very good with the underlying operational metrics. We are adding staff for additional purchasing that we're doing. We added 350 account managers for the year. So there's nothing concerning from either big macro point of view or operational capability point of view. These are forecasting changes that happen on a vintage by vintage basis.

因此，我們對基本營運指標感覺非常好。我們正在增加人員來進行額外的採購。今年我們增加了 350 位客戶經理。所以無論是從宏觀角度或是從營運能力角度來看都沒有什麼問題。這些是對逐個年份發生的變化的預測。

And you do your best to adapt and estimate for each vintage and the net effect of those, and you can see that in our Q, some vintages are positive, some are negative, across globally, right? So that's what happens from a forecasting and the implications on accounting point of view.

你盡最大努力適應和估計每個年份以及這些年份的淨效應，你可以看到在我們的問題中，在全球範圍內，有些年份是積極的，有些是消極的，對嗎？這就是從預測和會計角度來看會發生的情況。

I appreciate that. Actually, and the staffing with the next question. To your point, you added 350 account managers. Are we going to see or potentially see a deterioration near-term, deterioration efficiency, if you -- are you planning on staffing up for the increased volume that is coming, right, that you've already got to hit a record in the U.S. this year already and 2024 looks good.

我很感激。實際上，還有下一個問題的人員配置。就您的觀點而言，您新增了 350 位客戶經理。我們是否會看到或可能看到近期的惡化、效率的惡化，如果你——你是否計劃為即將到來的增加的數量配備人員，對吧，你已經在美國創下了紀錄。今年已經如此，2024年看起來也不錯。

Are you planning on staffing up kind of ahead of that? Or do you think it could be managed -- so the staffing grows and cash collection efficiency or return on invested capital, whatever it doesn't take a near-term ding from timing this metrics on staffing versus collections?

您是否計劃在此之前做好人員配備？還是你認為它可以被管理－因此人員配置增加，現金收款效率或投資資本報酬率，無論短期內不會因人員配置與收款指標的計時而受到影響？

Yes. So this is not a onetime sudden hiring and sudden closing of call centers and whatnot. We've been adding staff for the last 6 months in a very steady fashion in our U.S. business. And again, if we are doing it across U.S., Costa Rica, India, and therefore, we are able to train them, and it's on a large base of account managers already.

是的。因此，這不是一次性的突然招聘和突然關閉呼叫中心之類的事情。過去 6 個月，我們的美國業務一直在非常穩定地增加員工。再說一次，如果我們在美國、哥斯達黎加、印度這樣做，我們就能夠培訓他們，而且已經有大量的客戶經理了。

So it's not like -- this increase will impact our efficiency much. It's a very steady, measured way to add capacity, and we continue to do that. And we plan to continue doing that for the rest of the year for sure as we plan for increased purchasing. So we're very confident operationally how these will perform and have baked in that into our expectations, again, back to the forecast of the best possible ability that we can.

因此，這種成長不會對我們的效率產生太大影響。這是一種非常穩定、謹慎的增加容量的方法，我們將繼續這樣做。我們計劃在今年剩餘時間內繼續這樣做，因為我們計劃增加採購。因此，我們在操作上對它們的表現非常有信心，並將其納入我們的期望中，再次回到我們所能達到的最佳能力的預測。

Our next question comes from the line of Mark Hughes from Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Mark Hughes。

Jonathan, did you give the U.K. purchase multiple or the Cabot purchase multiple?

喬納森，你給了英國購買倍數還是卡博特購買倍數？

That purchase multiple for Cabot for the -- you're talking about for Q3?

您所說的是第三季卡博特的購買倍數？

Yes. I think you usually give about 9 months, but if you go Q3, that's good, too.

是的。我認為你通常需要大約 9 個月的時間，但如果你去第三季度，那也很好。

Q3 is $1.75 billion.

第三季為 17.5 億美元。

Okay. What's your judgment about what's going on in the U.K. market or in Europe. We've been talking about irrational competitors for quite a while. And it seems like they have come under some pressure from a balance sheet perspective, but hadn't really contributed any kind of improvement in the market. Why are they -- why is their irrational behavior so durable?

好的。您對英國市場或歐洲市場的情況有何判斷？我們談論非理性的競爭對手已經有一段時間了。從資產負債表的角度來看，他們似乎受到了一些壓力，但並沒有真正為市場帶來任何改善。為什麼他們的非理性行為如此持久？

Yes. It's a good question, Mark, and we discussed that a lot, as you can imagine, internally. Now I would say we've seen some change in behavior, certain things, outcomes of certain auctions that would have been different 6 months ago now banks are taking it back to an auction.

是的。這是一個很好的問題，馬克，正如你可以想像的那樣，我們在內部對此進行了很多討論。現在我想說，我們已經看到行為、某些事情、某些拍賣的結果發生了一些變化，這些變化在 6 個月前會有所不同，現在銀行正在將其重新拍賣。

People can renew for example. So we're seeing early signs of change behavior, especially in the U.K. But it's -- at this point, given the number of players in the supply that's not grown because lending has not grown, it's still below pandemic and charge-offs are still at record low. So the supply factor has not contributed. We're still seeing a competitive behavior that's still pretty high competitive intensity.

例如，人們可以更新。因此，我們看到了行為變化的早期跡象，尤其是在英國。但就目前而言，由於貸款沒有增長，供應中的參與者數量沒有增加，因此仍然低於大流行，沖銷仍然存在創歷史新低。所以供給因素並沒有發揮作用。我們仍然看到競爭行為仍然相當高的競爭強度。

So it's -- we've seen some early signs, not enough to change pricing and our allocation of capital, particularly given we can move capital around and given our balance sheet structure and the opportunity we see in the U.S. So it's something we staying very focused on and watching and staying disciplined in buying portfolios at acceptable returns so that we are still buying, but we don't need to buy any more than we need to.

因此，我們已經看到了一些早期跡象，不足以改變定價和我們的資本配置，特別是考慮到我們可以轉移資本，考慮到我們的資產負債表結構以及我們在美國看到的機會，所以這是我們非常堅持的事情專注於並觀察並保持紀律，以可接受的回報購買投資組合，以便我們仍在購買，但我們不需要購買超出我們需要的東西。

And if you constrain the purchasing, you can get acceptable returns because there are niche segments and sellers and relationships and capabilities that kind of match up pretty well where we can buy what we want at our returns.

如果你限制購買，你可以獲得可接受的回報，因為有利基細分市場、賣家、關係和能力，這些都非常匹配，我們可以在回報時購買我們想要的東西。

And then, Jonathan, with the capital raise, assuming the debt stays where it is currently, let's call it, what would the quarterly interest rate run rate look like?

然後，喬納森，隨著資金籌集，假設債務保持在目前的水平，我們可以這麼說，季度利率運行率會是什麼樣子？

Well, if you look for our weighted average cost of debt for the -- as of the end of the quarter, it was about 5.7%. So this wouldn't -- quite frankly, it would move it up a very little bit, but it wouldn't move it materially is my expectation.

好吧，如果你看看我們截至本季末的加權平均債務成本約為 5.7%。所以這不會——坦白說，它會讓它上升一點點，但我的預期不會實質地改變它。

Our next question comes from John Rowan of Janney Montgomery Scott.

我們的下一個問題來自詹尼·蒙哥馬利·斯科特的約翰·羅文。

Jon, I just had 2 quick housekeeping items. Did you say that the revision was $0.60 to earnings? I didn't quite hear it. I think you gave a $0.44 and a $0.13 number and then $0.60. I just want to confirm that.

喬恩，我剛剛有 2 件快速的家務用品。您是說收益調整為 0.60 美元嗎？我沒聽清楚。我認為您給出了 0.44 美元和 0.13 美元的數字，然後是 0.60 美元。我只是想確認一下。

Yes, the total or changes was $0.60. Yes, $0.44 plus $0.16.

是的，更改總額為 0.60 美元。是的，0.44 美元加 0.16 美元。

$0.16, okay. I thought I heard $0.13 so I was confused. And then what was the $5 million in other income and the reason why the tax rate was so high for the quarter?

0.16 美元，好吧。我以為我聽到的是 0.13 美元，所以我很困惑。那麼這 500 萬美元的其他收入是多少，以及該季度稅率如此之高的原因是什麼？

Yes, actually, they're all kind of related. So as you know, we've been reducing portfolio purchasing in the current environment in the U.K. and Europe. And so we -- as I walk through, we reduced the size of our Cabot securitization facility.

是的，實際上，它們都是相關的。如您所知，在英國和歐洲當前的環境下，我們一直在減少投資組合購買。因此，當我走過時，我們縮小了卡博特證券化設施的規模。

And accordingly, in anticipation of that, we reduced an associated hedge and interest rate cap, and that produced a gain of roughly $3.5 million. So that explains, I think, how come the other income was higher than normal. And in terms of tax rate, tax rate was higher as a result of a valuation allowance that was related to our European business. And so that's why it was higher this quarter.

因此，考慮到這一點，我們降低了相關的對沖和利率上限，從而產生了約 350 萬美元的收益。我認為這就解釋了為什麼其他收入高於正常水平。在稅率方面，由於與我們歐洲業務相關的估價津貼，稅率較高。這就是本季更高的原因。

Maybe it will go -- I assume it will move down to the mid-20s next quarter, correct?

也許它會過去——我想下個季度它會下降到 20 多歲，對嗎？

I think actually, it will move down, but I would expect for the year, we're going to have something -- we're going to have something more in the high 20s, low 30s because as you know, where your tax rate lands is driven by where you earn your income. So as it moves around, your tax rate is going to move up and down. So my current expectation would be high 20s, 30s, actually.

我認為實際上，它會下降，但我預計今年，我們將會有一些東西- 我們將在高20 多歲、低30 多歲的範圍內有更多的東西，因為如你所知，你的稅率土地由您賺取收入的地方決定。因此，隨著它的變化，你的稅率也會上下波動。所以我目前的期望其實是 20 多歲、30 多歲。

For the year though, not for next quarter?

但今年，不是下個季度？

For the year, correct.

今年，正確。

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn it back to Mr. Masih for closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。現在我想請馬西先生作閉幕發言。

As we close the call, I'd like to reiterate a few important points. We believe Encore is truly differentiated in our sector with a solid track record of results and superior capabilities. As the consumer credit cycle continues to turn, the U.S. market is seeing the world's strongest supply growth.

在我們結束通話時，我想重申一些重要的觀點。我們相信 Encore 在我們的行業中真正脫穎而出，擁有良好的業績記錄和卓越的能力。隨著消費信貸週期持續轉向，美國市場的供應成長堪稱全球最強勁。

We continue to apply a disciplined portfolio purchasing approach by allocating record amounts of capital to the U.S. market, which has the highest returns. When combined with our effective collections operation, we believe this approach will enable us to continue to grow our cash generation. This is the portion of the credit cycle we've been waiting for.

我們繼續採用嚴格的投資組合購買方法，將創紀錄的資金分配給回報率最高的美國市場。當與我們有效的收款業務結合時，我們相信這種方法將使我們能夠繼續增加我們的現金產生能力。這是我們一直在等待的信貸週期的一部分。

Thanks for taking the time to join us, and we look forward to providing our fourth quarter and full year 2023 results in February.

感謝您抽出時間加入我們，我們期待在 2 月提供 2023 年第四季和全年業績。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program, and you may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了程序，您現在可以斷開連接。