PRA Group Inc (PRAA) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good evening, and welcome to PRA Group's third quarter 2025 conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

晚上好，歡迎參加 PRA 集團 2025 年第三季電話會議。（操作說明）請注意，本次活動正在錄影。

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Najim Mostamand, Vice President, Investor Relations for PRA. Group, please go ahead.

現在我願將電話轉交給PRA投資者關係副總裁納吉姆·莫斯塔曼德先生。各位請開始。

Thank you. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Martin Sjolund, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Rakesh Sehgal, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝。各位晚上好，感謝各位的參與。今天陪同我的是總裁兼執行長 Martin Sjolund；以及執行副總裁兼財務長 Rakesh Sehgal。

We will make forward-looking statements during the call, which are based on management's current beliefs, projections, assumptions and expectations. We assume no obligation to revise or update these statements. We caution listeners that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our expectations. Please refer to our earnings press release issued today and our SEC filings for a detailed discussion of these factors.

我們將在電話會議中發表前瞻性聲明，這些聲明是基於管理層目前的信念、預測、假設和預期。我們不承擔修改或更新這些聲明的義務。我們提醒聽眾，這些前瞻性陳述存在風險、不確定性、假設和其他因素，可能導致我們的實際結果與預期有重大差異。有關這些因素的詳細討論，請參閱我們今天發布的盈利新聞稿和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。

The earnings release, the slide presentation that we will use during today's call and our SEC filings can all be found in the Investor Relations section of our website at www.pragroup.com. Additionally, a replay of this call will be available shortly after its conclusion, and the replay dial-in information is included in the earnings press release. All comparisons mentioned today will be between Q3 2025 and Q3 2024, unless otherwise noted, and our Americas results include Australia.

您可以在我們網站 www.pragroup.com 的「投資者關係」欄位中找到獲利報告、我們將在今天電話會議上使用的幻燈片簡報以及我們提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的文件。此外，本次電話會議結束後不久即可收聽錄音回放，回放撥入資訊包含在獲利新聞稿中。除非另有說明，今天提到的所有比較都將是 2025 年第三季與 2024 年第三季之間的比較，而我們的美洲地區業績包括澳洲。

During our call, we will discuss certain financial measures on an adjusted basis. Please refer to the appendix of the slide presentation used during this call for a reconciliation of the most directly comparable US GAAP financial measures to non-GAAP financial measures.

在本次電話會議中，我們將討論一些調整後的財務指標。請參閱本次電話會議中使用的投影片簡報的附錄，以了解最直接可比較的美國通用會計準則財務指標與非通用會計準則財務指標的調節表。

And with that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Martin.

那麼，現在我想把電話交給馬丁。

Thank you, Najim, and thank you, everyone, for joining us this evening. It's been great to meet so many of you during these past few months, both here in the US and across Europe as I've stepped into the CEO role. I want to start by providing an update on our Q3 performance, followed by a review of how we're tracking against the strategic priorities I laid out on our last call.

謝謝納吉姆，也謝謝今晚各位的到來。在過去的幾個月裡，我很高興有機會見到你們中的許多人，無論是在美國還是在歐洲各地，因為我已經擔任了執行長一職。首先，我想報告我們第三季的業績，然後回顧一下我們在上次電話會議上提出的策略重點的進展。

On this slide, we present 4 key areas of our business that I think provide a good perspective on our performance. Let's start with portfolio purchases. While we were somewhat more selective this quarter as we sought to balance portfolio returns and leverage, we are still tracking towards our investment goal of $1.2 billion for the year. This will represent our third highest annual investment level ever. Cash collections grew 14% year-over-year to $542 million, reflecting strong recent purchases and the continued momentum of our operational initiatives.

在這張投影片中，我們展示了我們業務的 4 個關鍵領域，我認為這些領域可以很好地反映我們的表現。我們先從投資組合購買說起。雖然本季我們在尋求平衡投資組合回報和槓桿方面採取了更謹慎的態度，但我們仍然朝著全年 12 億美元的投資目標穩步前進。這將是我們有史以來第三高的年度投資金額。現金收款年增 14% 至 5.42 億美元，反映近期強勁的採購動能和我們營運措施的持續推進。

Globally, we collected 8% above our expectations with the US overperforming by 6% and Europe overperforming by 10%, a strong result in both regions. We've been ramping up our investments in the US legal collections channel for some time now, which led to a 27% increase in US legal cash collections for the quarter.

在全球範圍內，我們的收入比預期高出 8%，其中美國超出預期 6%，歐洲超出預期 10%，這兩個地區都取得了強勁的成績。一段時間以來，我們一直在增加對美國法律催收管道的投資，這使得本季度美國法律現金催收額增加了 27%。

As you can see on the slide, our cash-based metrics continue to improve. However, we recorded a nonrecurring noncash goodwill impairment charge of $413 million in the third quarter. This goodwill is related to a number of historical acquisitions that have been on our books for many years, primarily in Europe. The impairment was triggered by the sustained decline in our stock price.

正如您在幻燈片中看到的，我們的現金指標持續改善。然而，我們在第三季提列了一筆 4.13 億美元的非經常性非現金商譽減損費用。這份商譽與我們多年來一直在帳面上記錄的一些歷史收購有關，主要集中在歐洲。此次減損是由我們股價持續下跌引發的。

I want to be absolutely clear that our underlying European business continues to perform well, and I believe we're well positioned for future success. Year-to-date, Europe has overperformed our cash expectations by 11%. And in Q3, we once again made positive adjustments to our European ERC.

我想明確指出，我們歐洲的核心業務繼續表現良好，我相信我們已經為未來的成功做好了充分準備。今年迄今為止，歐洲的現金流表現超出我們預期的 11%。第三季度，我們再次對歐洲ERC進行了積極調整。

The net loss was $408 million for the quarter, but if you exclude the noncash impairment charge, we reported $21 million of adjusted net income, which translates into an adjusted ROACE of 9%. Adjusted EBITDA for the last 12 months continued to grow, up 15% to $1.3 billion. I'd like to point out that adjusted EBITDA grew faster than cash collections over the same period. This suggests that we are gaining operational leverage. Strong adjusted EBITDA growth, combined with moderated buying resulted in a reduction in our net leverage.

本季淨虧損為 4.08 億美元，但如果排除非現金減損支出，我們報告了 2,100 萬美元的調整後淨收入，這相當於 9% 的調整後 ROACE。過去 12 個月的調整後 EBITDA 持續成長，成長 15% 至 13 億美元。我想指出的是，同期調整後的 EBITDA 成長速度超過了現金回收速度。這表明我們正在獲得營運優勢。強勁的調整後 EBITDA 成長，加上適度的採購，導致我們的淨槓桿率下降。

Overall, Q3 represented another step forward. We're heading in the right direction, although we do have a lot of work ahead of us to continue to improve the returns of our business. It has now been just over 100 days since I stepped into the CEO role, and my focus has been on accelerating what is working well and tackling areas of our business that need to be improved. On the last earnings call, I outlined five main priorities that we're focused on, and I'd like to report on the progress we're making against each.

整體而言，第三季代表著又向前邁進了一步。我們正朝著正確的方向前進，儘管我們還有很多工作要做，才能繼續提高業務回報。自從我擔任執行長一職至今已超過 100 天，我的工作重點是加快推進那些運作良好的方面，並著手解決我們業務中需要改進的領域。在上次財報電話會議上，我概述了我們關注的五個主要優先事項，我想報告我們在每個方面的進展。

My first priority has been cost efficiency. Our focus has been to ensure that we drive efficiency throughout our operations and that we address corporate and overhead costs. As a result, we have already implemented a cost reduction program in the US aimed primarily at corporate and overhead roles. After a detailed review of our staff, we reduced our US headcount by more than 115 employees.

我的首要考慮因素是成本效益。我們一直致力於提高營運效率，並控制公司營運成本和管理費用。因此，我們已經在美國實施了一項成本削減計劃，主要針對公司和管理職位。經過對員工的詳細審查，我們減少了美國員工超過 115 人。

This is in addition to actions taken earlier in the year to cut headcount-related costs. Altogether, these initiatives will result in gross annualized cost savings of approximately $20 million, although around $3 million of those savings will be offset by increased outsourcing costs.

這是在今年稍早為削減與人員編制相關的成本而採取的措施之外的額外舉措。總的來說，這些措施將帶來約 2,000 萬美元的年度總成本節約，但其中約 300 萬美元的節省將被增加的外包成本所抵銷。

As it relates to our US-focused call centers, our headcount reduced by 170 agents during the quarter as we rightsize capacity needs, balance onshore with offshore and drive towards a higher-performing organization. As of September 30, our total agent head count had declined by 25% compared to last year, while our US core cash collections grew by 21%. We now have around one-third of our calling capacity offshore. We expect offshoring to become a bigger part of the overall mix next year, but we're taking a gradual approach with a focus on delivering on our cash targets.

就我們以美國為中心的呼叫中心而言，本季我們的員工人數減少了 170 名客服人員，因為我們正在調整產能需求，平衡境內外資源，並努力打造一個績效更高的組織。截至 9 月 30 日，我們的代理商總數比去年減少了 25%，而我們在美國的核心現金收款金額則增加了 21%。目前我們約有三分之一的呼叫能力部署在海外。我們預計明年離岸外包將在整體業務組合中佔據更大的比例，但我們將採取循序漸進的方式，重點是實現我們的現金目標。

The second priority that I announced last quarter was reorganizing our US operations to create a more empowered and agile team with greater visibility and accountability. This was based on my experience successfully managing 15 markets across Europe, Canada and Australia. By creating a cross-functional US team and empowering leaders, we will increase focus on collections and costs while speeding up decision-making. We have now fully implemented the new structure, which will be led by our Global Operations Officer, who has more than 30 years of collections experience at Citigroup. The team has talented leaders from across the company, and I'm confident that they will deliver for PRA.

我在上個季度宣布的第二項優先事項是重組我們的美國業務，以創造一個更有權力、更靈活、更有透明度和責任感的團隊。這是基於我成功管理歐洲、加拿大和澳洲15個市場的經驗。透過組建一支跨職能的美國團隊並賦予領導者權力，我們將更加關注收款和成本控制，同時加快決策速度。我們現在已經全面實施了新的組織架構，將由我們的全球營運長領導，他在花旗集團擁有超過 30 年的催收經驗。該團隊擁有來自公司各部門的優秀領導者，我相信他們能夠為PRA帶來佳績。

The third priority I talked about was the importance of accessing top talent, especially in specialist areas like technology and analytics. Based on the success we've had with talent hubs in places like London, we decided to set up a second hub in the US beyond Norfolk, where we're headquartered.

我談到的第三個優先事項是獲取頂尖人才的重要性，尤其是在技術和分析等專業領域。鑑於我們在倫敦等地的人才中心取得了成功，我們決定在美國諾福克（我們的總部所在地）以外的地方設立第二個中心。

After assessing several options, we selected Charlotte, North Carolina to be our second hub. We think this is an ideal location based on its vibrant financial services industry and strong talent pool. In fact, we've already started hiring specialized talent at this location, and we expect to open a new office space in early 2026.

經過幾個方案的評估，我們最終選擇北卡羅來納州夏洛特市作為我們的第二個樞紐。我們認為這裡是一個理想的地點，因為這裡有蓬勃發展的金融服務業和強大的人才儲備。事實上，我們已經開始在這個地點招募專業人才，預計將於 2026 年初開設新的辦公室。

The fourth priority I talked about was bringing our headquarters, corporate, and support staff back to the office, which we implemented right after Labor Day. It's great to arrive at our headquarters and see the parking lot full of cars and the office buzzing with people. I believe this will create a longer-term performance culture, and it's been encouraging to see the increased collaboration both within and across departments.

我提到的第四個優先事項是讓我們的總部、公司和支援人員回到辦公室，我們在勞動節後立即實施了這項措施。抵達總部後，看到停車場停滿了車，辦公室裡人來人往，真是令人興奮。我相信這將創造一種更長期的績效文化，令人鼓舞的是，我們看到部門內部和部門之間的合作日益增加。

And finally, the fifth priority was modernizing our IT platform. During the quarter, we spent time assessing our entire technology stack and considering how technology will evolve in the future. The team met with both external technology providers as well as a number of large bank partners across the world to understand how they are approaching technology. We want to ensure that we're taking full advantage of the rapidly evolving technology opportunity. We're also leveraging our experience in building a modern platform for our European business.

最後，第五項優先事項是實現我們IT平台的現代化。本季度，我們花時間評估了我們的整個技術堆疊，並思考科技在未來將如何發展。該團隊與外部技術供應商以及世界各地的多家大型銀行合作夥伴進行了會面，以了解他們如何看待科技。我們希望確保充分利用快速發展的技術所帶來的機會。我們也在利用自身經驗，為我們在歐洲的業務建構一個現代化平台。

For example, we have all the European markets on one common cloud platform and one cloud-based omnichannel contact platform. We've been on a multiyear journey of consolidating collection systems in order to simplify our operations while retaining the local entrepreneurial drive. Our US business had already started a similar journey and is making good progress. Globally, we have been piloting AI applications for areas like document processing, call monitoring and coding. We see a lot of opportunity in the future and are exploring a range of AI use cases.

例如，我們所有的歐洲市場都使用同一個雲端平台和一個基於雲端的全通路聯絡平台。多年來，我們一直在整合收款系統，以簡化我們的運營，同時保持本地創業精神。我們的美國業務已經開始了類似的旅程，並且取得了良好的進展。在全球範圍內，我們一直在試點將人工智慧應用於文件處理、通話監控和編碼等領域。我們看到了未來巨大的機遇，並正在探索一系列人工智慧應用案例。

Overall, I'm very pleased with how the team has responded and how fast we have been executing against all the priorities I outlined. As you can see from the progress being made, we are focused on building a foundation for long-term success and creating value for all our stakeholders.

總的來說，我對團隊的反應速度以及我們快速執行我所列出的所有優先事項感到非常滿意。從我們所取得的進展可以看出，我們專注於為長期成功奠定基礎，並為所有利害關係人創造價值。

Along with those five priorities, the team has also made significant progress in other areas. For example, in addition to our quarterly reforecasting process, I had the team perform a deep dive analysis of our US vintages after I stepped into the CEO role. This included an evaluation of the impact from our legal and other initiatives now that they have had time to season.

除了這五項優先事項之外，團隊在其他領域也取得了顯著進展。例如，除了我們每季的重新預測流程外，在我擔任執行長之後，我還讓團隊對我們的美國年份葡萄酒進行了深入分析。這包括對我們的法律和其他措施的影響進行評估，因為這些措施已經有了時間發揮作用。

Overall, we had positive changes in expected future recoveries even while absorbing some negative adjustments in our challenging US core vintages of '21, '22, and '23. We refer to these internally as the COVID vintages since they were underwritten as we came out of COVID. As we move forward, the US COVID vintages, which currently accounts for around 10% of our global ERC, will continue to comprise a smaller percentage of the global ERC. After having gone through this process, I'm confident with where our global ERC stands.

總體而言，儘管我們在 2021 年、2022 年和 2023 年美國核心年份面臨一些負面調整，但我們對未來復甦的預期仍然發生了積極變化。由於這些股票是在新冠疫情結束後發行的，所以我們內部稱它們為「新冠疫情時期」的股票。隨著我們不斷向前發展，目前占我們全球 ERC 約 10% 的美國 COVID 年份葡萄酒，在全球 ERC 中所佔比例將繼續下降。經過這個過程，我對我們全球ERC的現況充滿信心。

The final point I wanted to make was to congratulate our team in Poland on their 10-year anniversary. I personally attended the celebrations in Warsaw a few weeks ago, which included a dozen Polish banks as well as senior representatives from a number of major global banks. Poland is a competitive market, and our team has done a fantastic job in establishing PRA as a leading player there.

最後，我想祝賀我們在波蘭的團隊成立十週年。幾週前，我親自參加了在華沙舉行的慶祝活動，參與者包括十幾家波蘭銀行以及多家國際主要銀行的高級代表。波蘭是一個競爭激烈的市場，我們的團隊在將 PRA 打造成當地領導者方面做得非常出色。

I'll now turn it over to Rakesh for a summary of our Q3 financial results before returning to provide some closing remarks.

現在我將把發言權交給拉凱什，讓他總結一下我們第三季的財務業績，之後我再回來做一些總結發言。

Thanks, Martin. We purchased $255 million of portfolios during the quarter, of which $154 million or 60% were in the Americas and $101 million or 40% were in Europe. The total $255 million amount is lower on a year-over-year basis as it reflects our heightened focus on prioritizing net returns over volumes purchased while balancing investments versus leverage.

謝謝你，馬丁。本季我們購買了價值 2.55 億美元的投資組合，其中 1.54 億美元（佔 60%）位於美洲，1.01 億美元（佔 40%）位於歐洲。總額 2.55 億美元較上年下降，反映出我們更注重優先考慮淨回報而非購買量，同時平衡投資與槓桿。

Looking to the remainder of 2025, we expect portfolio supply to remain at elevated levels in the US and to be relatively stable in Europe. We expect US supply to continue to benefit from elevated credit card balances of approximately $1.1 trillion. On a year-to-date basis, our 2025 purchase price multiple was 2.14 times for Americas Core and 1.88x for Europe Core. This compares to 2.11 times in 2024 for Americas Core and is significantly higher from the levels seen in early 2023 when the Americas Core multiple was 1.75 times.

展望 2025 年剩餘時間，我們預期美國投資組合供應量將維持在高位，而歐洲投資組合供應量將相對穩定。我們預計美國供應將繼續受益於約 1.1 兆美元的高信用卡餘額。截至目前，我們 2025 年的收購價格倍數，美洲核心業務為 2.14 倍，歐洲核心業務為 1.88 倍。相較之下，2024 年美洲核心地區的估值倍數為 2.11 倍，並且明顯高於 2023 年初的水平，當時美洲核心地區的估值倍數為 1.75 倍。

Keep in mind that the purchase price multiples are determined in part by the age of the nonperforming loans that come to market and the cost to collect, resulting in our European multiples being lower, primarily due to a lower cost to collect in certain countries.

請記住，購買價格倍數部分取決於進入市場的不良貸款的帳齡和催收成本，因此我們的歐洲倍數較低，主要是因為某些國家的催收成本較低。

However, what we are ultimately focused on are the net returns, which incorporates the cost to collect and funding cost. We implemented an enhanced global investment framework a couple of years ago that continues to help us improve returns as we seek to achieve minimum return thresholds on our investments, irrespective of product, geography and other vectors.

然而，我們最終關注的是淨收益，其中包括收集成本和資金成本。幾年前，我們實施了一項改進的全球投資框架，該框架持續幫助我們提高回報，因為我們力求實現投資的最低迴報門檻，而不管產品、地理和其他因素如何。

As we move forward, we intend to continue operating with an increased focus on portfolio returns to ultimately drive net income.

展望未來，我們將繼續更加重視投資組合回報，以最終提高淨收入。

ERC at quarter end was $8.4 billion, up 15% year-over-year and up 1% on a sequential basis. Based on the average purchase price multiples we recorded year-to-date, we would need to invest $952 million globally over the next 12 months to replenish and maintain current ERC levels. Total cash collections for the quarter grew a healthy 14% year-over-year to $542 million. This is on top of the 14% growth we experienced last year. The cash collections growth was driven by both higher levels of recent portfolio purchases and the uplift in cash generation from the investments and process improvements we have been making in the US legal collections channel.

截至季末，ERC 為 84 億美元，年增 15%，季增 1%。根據我們今年迄今記錄的平均購買價格倍數，我們需要在未來 12 個月內在全球投資 9.52 億美元，以補充和維持當前的 ERC 水準。本季現金收款總額年增 14%，達 5.42 億美元。這是在我們去年實現 14% 成長的基礎上實現的。現金回收成長的驅動力既包括近期投資組合收購水準的提高，也包括我們在美國法律催收管道進行的投資和流程改善所帶來的現金產生量的提升。

Globally, our cash collections exceeded our expectations by 8% this quarter. In the Americas, cash collections exceeded expectations by 6%. US legal cash collections grew 27% year-over-year to $125 million. This is up approximately 90% since year-end 2023 when we first began benefiting from the improvements made in the legal collections channel, including reducing cycle times, leveraging specialized third parties and adding new legal collection capabilities. It's important to note that legal is not the channel that we lead with, but when appropriate, it typically provides greater collections certainty and a higher overall amount of cash collected versus other channels.

本季度，我們全球現金回收額超出預期 8%。在美洲，現金回收額超出預期 6%。美國合法現金收款年增 27%，達到 1.25 億美元。自 2023 年底以來，這一數字增長了約 90%，當時我們開始受益於法律催收管道的改進，包括縮短週期時間、利用專業的第三方以及增加新的法律催收能力。值得注意的是，法律途徑並非我們首選的管道，但在適當的情況下，與其他管道相比，它通常能提供更高的收款確定性和更高的整體收款金額。

In Q3 2025, the legal collections channel represented 46% of cash collected in Americas core compared to 38% two years ago. We also were able to drive strong growth this quarter in our US digital collections, which continues to be an important channel for us.

2025 年第三季度，法律催收管道佔美洲核心地區現金回收總額的 46%，而兩年前這一比例為 38%。本季度，我們在美國的數位館藏也實現了強勁成長，這仍然是我們的一個重要管道。

Turning to Europe. Europe collections exceeded our expectations by 10%. We continue to deliver strong performance across our core markets in the region. We also had good performance across the U.K., Nordics and Central Europe and are starting to see signs of market stabilization and healthy performance in Southern Europe. Regarding Southern Europe, we also witnessed more opportunities this year to invest in those markets that met our return thresholds.

轉向歐洲。歐洲地區的銷售額超出預期 10%。我們在該地區的核心市場繼續保持強勁的業績。我們在英國、北歐和中歐也取得了良好的業績，並且開始看到南歐市場趨於穩定和業績健康的跡象。關於南歐，今年我們也看到了更多投資機會，這些市場符合我們的回報標準。

Moving on to a summary of our income statement. Portfolio revenue for the quarter increased 12% year-over-year to $310 million. Portfolio income, which is the most stable and predictable yield component of our revenue, grew 20% year-over-year to $259 million. Over the last two years, we have continued to benefit from a healthy supply environment and improved returns, resulting in our portfolio income growing 36% compared with Q3 2023.

接下來是損益表概要。本季投資組合營收年增 12%，達到 3.1 億美元。投資組合收入是我們收入中最穩定、最可預測的收益組成部分，年增 20%，達到 2.59 億美元。過去兩年，我們持續受益於健康的供應環境和不斷改善的回報，使得我們的投資組合收入與 2023 年第三季相比成長了 36%。

Changes in expected recoveries was $51 million this quarter. This was comprised of recoveries collected in excess of forecast, which represents cash overperformance of $27 million and changes in expected future recoveries, which is the net present value of changes to our ERC of $24 million. The cash overperformance of $27 million is net of a $15 million onetime payment we made to a long-time selling partner for previously purchased portfolios.

本季預期回收金額的變化為 5,100 萬美元。這包括超出預期的回收款項（代表 2700 萬美元的現金超額收益）和預期未來回收款項的變化（即我們 ERC 變化的淨現值為 2400 萬美元）。2,700 萬美元的現金超額收益已扣除我們向長期銷售合作夥伴支付的 1,500 萬美元一次性款項，該款項用於支付先前購買的投資組合。

Both parties agreed to modify the terms and conditions of certain portfolios we had previously purchased. This enables us to enhance the use of legal collections and increase our estimate of remaining cash collections versus what we had previously expected for these portfolios.

雙方同意修改我們先前購買的某些投資組合的條款和條件。這使我們能夠加強對合法收款的利用，並提高我們對剩餘現金收款的估計，與我們先前對這些投資組合的預期相比。

While the agreement is economically positive for us, the accounting guidance requires us to record the $15 million onetime payment as a purchase price adjustment that reduces revenue, given it is a modification of an existing investment. This is in contrast to a new portfolio purchase that would be capitalized on our balance sheet.

雖然該協議在經濟上對我們有利，但會計準則要求我們將 1500 萬美元的一次性付款記錄為購買價格調整，從而減少收入，因為它是對現有投資的修改。這與一項新的投資組合收購形成對比，該收購將在我們的資產負債表上實現資本化。

Excluding this onetime payment, the recoveries collected in excess of forecast would have been $42 million. Changes in expected future recoveries was $24 million this quarter and was primarily due to additional ERC we expect to collect in both the US and Europe. We are benefiting from the continued performance of our European business, resulting in positive adjustments to our ERC.

除去這筆一次性付款，超出預期的回收款項將達到 4,200 萬美元。本季預期未來回收款項的變化為 2,400 萬美元，主要原因是我們預計在美國和歐洲將收到額外的 ERC。我們受益於歐洲業務的持續良好表現，從而對我們的 ERC 進行了積極調整。

In the US, the increase included the impact of the arrangement we made with the seller, which I mentioned previously. In addition, there were puts and takes across the vintages with our pre-2021 and our 2024 US vintages seeing an increase in ERC, while our US COVID vintages of 2021, 2022 and 2023 being negatively impacted.

在美國，成長包括了我們與賣方達成的協議的影響，我之前已經提到過。此外，各年份葡萄酒的產量也有增減，其中 2021 年之前的年份和 2024 年的美國年份葡萄酒的 ERC 有所增加，而 2021 年、2022 年和 2023 年的美國 COVID 年份葡萄酒則受到了負面影響。

The overall impact is that we have increased the ERC in the US, resulting in a positive NPV adjustment this quarter. This increase in our ERC should lead to higher portfolio income moving forward. Turning now to the rest of the income statement summary.

整體影響是，我們提高了美國的 ERC，導致本季 NPV 出現正向調整。我們提高投資報酬率應該會帶來更高的投資組合收益。現在就來看看損益表摘要的其餘部分。

As Martin mentioned, we recorded a nonrecurring noncash goodwill impairment charge of $413 million in the third quarter, which was triggered by the sustained decline in our stock price. We made a number of acquisitions between 2012 and 2019, leading to an accumulation of goodwill, the largest contributor being Active Capital, which we acquired in 2014 with a total enterprise value of $1.3 billion. Active Capital is our highly successful European business as evidenced by its strong track record of disciplined investments, cash collections growth and profitability.

正如馬丁所提到的，由於我們的股價持續下跌，我們在第三季提列了 4.13 億美元的非經常性非現金商譽減損費用。2012 年至 2019 年間，我們進行了一系列收購，累積了商譽，其中最大的貢獻者是 Active Capital，我們於 2014 年收購了該公司，其企業總價值為 13 億美元。Active Capital 是我們非常成功的歐洲業務，在穩健的投資、現金回收成長和獲利能力方面都取得了顯著的成績。

Overall, despite the impairment charge, we are pleased with the momentum we are generating in our global business as we execute on our strategic priorities.

總體而言，儘管產生了減損費用，但我們對在全球業務中取得的良好發展勢頭感到滿意，因為我們正在執行我們的策略重點。

Operating expenses for the quarter were $627 million. Excluding the goodwill impairment charge, adjusted operating expenses were $214 million, up 12% from the prior year period, primarily due to the continued investments in the legal collections channel, which has been generating strong cash collections in recent quarters.

本季營運支出為 6.27 億美元。在剔除商譽減損費用後，調整後的營運支出為 2.14 億美元，比上年同期成長 12%，這主要是由於對法律催收管道的持續投資，該管道在最近幾季產生了強勁的現金回收。

Legal collection costs were $47 million this quarter, up $18 million from the prior year period. We expect legal collection costs to be in the $40 million area in Q4. Cash efficiency ratio was negative 15% for the quarter. Excluding the goodwill impairment charge, adjusted cash efficiency was 61% in Q3, essentially stable with the prior year period, even though we had higher legal collection costs this quarter.

本季法律追討費用為 4,700 萬美元，較上年同期增加 1,800 萬美元。我們預計第四季法律追討費用將達到 4,000 萬美元左右。本季現金效率比率為負15%。剔除商譽減損費用後，第三季調整後的現金效率為 61%，與去年同期基本持平，儘管本季我們的法律催收成本較高。

Net interest expense was $64 million, an increase of $3 million from the prior year period, primarily reflecting an increase in debt balances from a year ago. Our effective tax rate was negative 6% for the quarter. Excluding the goodwill impairment charge, our adjusted effective tax rate was 25% for the quarter. Net income attributable to PRA was negative $408 million. Excluding the goodwill impairment charge, adjusted net income attributable to PRA was positive $21 million or $0.53 in diluted earnings per share.

淨利息支出為 6,400 萬美元，比上年同期增加 300 萬美元，主要反映債務餘額比上年同期增加。本季我們的實際稅率為負6%。剔除商譽減損費用後，本季調整後的實際稅率為 25%。歸屬於PRA的淨收入為負4.08億美元。剔除商譽減損支出後，歸屬於 PRA 的調整後淨利為 2,100 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.53 美元。

Our focus remains on growing the bottom line and improving returns, but we continue to monitor other metrics as well. Given the variability in the industry's accounting, we believe it is also important to look at adjusted EBITDA in addition to net income. Adjusted EBITDA for the last 12 months was $1.3 billion, up 15% year-over-year.

我們仍然專注於提高利潤和改善回報率，但我們也會繼續關注其他指標。鑑於該行業會計處理的差異性，我們認為除了淨利潤之外，查看調整後的 EBITDA 也非常重要。過去 12 個月的調整後 EBITDA 為 13 億美元，年增 15%。

Looking at the longer-term trend, adjusted EBITDA has grown for the last nine quarters in a row. When reviewing our adjusted EBITDA generation, we also keep an eye on total capital invested used to generate that adjusted EBITDA. This is to ensure we are optimizing our returns on capital invested. As we continue to deliver increased adjusted EBITDA while becoming more selective with our purchases, we expect to calibrate between investments and leverage levels.

從長期趨勢來看，調整後的 EBITDA 已連續九個季度成長。在檢視我們調整後的 EBITDA 產生情況時，我們也會專注於用於產生該調整後 EBITDA 的總投資資本。這是為了確保我們最大限度地提高投資回報率。隨著我們不斷提高調整後 EBITDA，同時在採購方面更加謹慎，我們預計會在投資和槓桿水平之間進行調整。

This quarter, our net leverage, defined as net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 2.8 times as of September 30 compared to 2.9 times in the prior year period. When excluding the $15 million onetime cash payment mentioned earlier, our net leverage would have been 2.7 times. In terms of funding capacity, we have ample capacity and financial flexibility under our current debt structure.

本季度，截至 9 月 30 日，我們的淨槓桿率（定義為淨債務與調整後 EBITDA 的比率）為 2.8 倍，而去年同期為 2.9 倍。如果排除前面提到的 1500 萬美元一次性現金支付，我們的淨槓桿率為 2.7 倍。就融資能力而言，我們目前的債務結構使我們擁有充足的融資能力和財務靈活性。

As of September 30, we had $3.2 billion in total committed capital under our credit facilities with total availability of $1.2 billion, comprised of $301 million available based on current ERC and $889 million of additional availability that we can draw from, subject to borrowing base and debt covenants, including advance rates.

截至 9 月 30 日，我們在信貸安排下的總承諾資本為 32 億美元，總可用額為 12 億美元，其中包括根據當前 ERC 可用的 3.01 億美元，以及我們可以提取的額外可用額度 8.89 億美元，但需遵守借款基數和債務契約，包括預付款利率。

During the quarter, we issued our first euro-denominated bond in Europe. We want to thank our investors who supported us during the offering. We raised EUR 300 million with a seven-year term with proceeds used to pay down our bank debt. Approximately half of our business is outside the US, and we believe it is prudent for us to access capital markets beyond the US. The bond offering enabled us to expand our investor base, access new pockets of capital, stagger maturities, better match currencies and rebalance our mix of secured and unsecured debt.

本季度，我們在歐洲發行了第一筆歐元計價債券。我們要感謝在發行過程中支持我們的投資者。我們籌集了 3 億歐元，期限為七年，所得款項用於償還銀行債務。我們大約一半的業務都在美國以外，我們認為進入美國以外的資本市場是明智之舉。此次債券發行使我們能夠擴大投資者基礎，獲得新的資金來源，錯開到期日，更好地匹配貨幣，並重新平衡我們的有擔保債務和無擔保債務組合。

Over the last 18 months, we have taken numerous actions to diversify and strengthen our capital structure and provide ample liquidity for capital deployment. We have no debt maturities until November 2027 when our European credit facility matures, enabling us to continue supporting the growth of the European business and transforming our US business.

在過去的18個月裡，我們採取了多項措施，以實現資本結構的多元化和加強，並為資本部署提供足夠的流動性。在 2027 年 11 月歐洲信貸額度到期之前，我們沒有任何債務到期，這使我們能夠繼續支持歐洲業務的成長並轉型我們的美國業務。

Looking ahead, we continue to monitor the consumer environment, especially in the US. While there has recently been an uptick in headlines around the bifurcation between higher and lower-end US consumers, our overall customer profile continues to be stable. We believe our global diversification and increased investment in the legal channel helped to lessen the financial impact of any near-term pressures on US consumers. It's important to remember that approximately 50% of our global cash collections comes from outside the US.

展望未來，我們將持續關註消費環境，尤其是在美國。儘管最近關於美國高端消費者和低端消費者分化的新聞報導有所增加，但我們的整體客戶群仍然保持穩定。我們相信，我們的全球多元化以及對法律管道的加大投入，有助於減輕近期任何壓力對美國消費者造成的財務影響。值得注意的是，我們全球現金收款中約有 50% 來自美國以外地區。

In addition, 43% comes from our global legal collections channel, which is less impacted by near-term consumer pressure given the longer time period over which we collect cash. Overall, we believe we are moving in the right direction as we continue to improve our financial profile, further strengthen our capital structure and stay focused on delivering higher returns while reducing leverage.

此外，43% 來自我們的全球法律催收管道，由於我們收取現金的時間較長，因此受近期消費者壓力的影響較小。總體而言，我們相信我們正朝著正確的方向前進，我們將繼續改善財務狀況，進一步加強資本結構，並專注於在降低槓桿率的同時實現更高的回報。

We are reaffirming our key financial targets for 2025. We expect to deliver on our 2025 purchase target of $1.2 billion, cash collections growth target of high single digits and cash efficiency target of 60% plus for the full year.

我們重申2025年的主要財務目標。我們預計 2025 年的採購目標將達到 12 億美元，全年現金回收成長目標將達到高個位數，現金效率目標將達到 60% 以上。

I'll now turn it back over to Martin.

現在我把麥克風交還給馬丁。

Thanks, Rakesh. In summary, the third quarter was about execution and delivery on the near-term priorities I set out a few months ago. We restructured our US operations, eliminated more than 250 roles, drove $20 million in gross annualized cost savings, began to establish our new talent hub, brought our headquarter staff back to the office and made progress in developing our IT modernization road map. We also continue to improve our financial results while lowering our leverage and strengthening our capital structure.

謝謝你，拉凱什。總而言之，第三季的重點是執行和完成我幾個月前製定的近期優先事項。我們重組了美國業務，裁減了 250 多個職位，實現了 2000 萬美元的年度總成本節約，開始建立新的人才中心，讓總部員工重返辦公室，並在製定 IT 現代化路線圖方面取得了進展。我們也不斷改善財務業績，同時降低槓桿率，加強資本結構。

As I mentioned last time, we are also reviewing our longer-term strategy and are looking at themes like cost efficiency, capital allocation, operational execution and our technology road map. I expect to provide more updates on this early next year. Ultimately, I'm very encouraged by how far we've come in these first 100 days.

正如我上次提到的，我們也在重新審視我們的長期策略，並著眼於成本效益、資本配置、營運執行和技術路線圖等主題。我預計明年年初會提供更多相關資訊。總而言之，我對我們在這100天裡的進展感到非常鼓舞。

We have a great team, a 30-year track record and one of the most globally diversified footprints in the industry. We are focused on executing our strategy and improving our business. And I am confident that if we stay disciplined and focused, we will deliver on the full potential of PRA. Thank you, everyone, for tuning in and for your continued support.

我們擁有一支優秀的團隊，30 年的業績記錄，以及業內最廣泛的全球業務佈局之一。我們專注於執行策略和改善業務。我相信，如果我們保持自律和專注，我們一定能夠充分發揮PRA的潛力。感謝大家的收看與持續支持。

And with that, we'll open it up for questions.

接下來，我們將開放提問環節。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

David Scharf, Capital Markets.

David Scharf，資本市場。

Hi, good afternoon, and, thanks for taking my questions a lot to digest. I guess I'll start off with just on the $50 million payment, I understand the mechanics. Just curious, are there other contracts you've entered into in which you would anticipate similar type modifications? Or should we view this as a kind of extremely rare event?

您好，下午好，非常感謝您耐心解答我的問題。我想我就先從5000萬美元的付款說起，我了解其中的運作機制。我只是好奇，在您之前簽訂的其他合約中，是否也預期會出現類似的修改？或者我們應該將其視為一種極為罕見的事件？

Yeah, thanks. As you say, it's been a busy quarter. So on that one, as Rakesh was saying, this was an opportunity that we developed together with one of the partners that we buy from to make modifications to the terms around portfolios we'd already bought some time ago. I would say this is a very unusual situation and a one-off.

嗯，謝謝。正如你所說，這個季度非常忙碌。所以，正如拉凱什所說，這是我們與一位合作夥伴共同開發的機會，我們可以向他購買資產，並對我們之前購買的投資組合的條款進行修改。我認為這是一個非常不尋常且獨一無二的情況。

We invested -- we assessed it the way we would any other investment. We needed to run it through the P&L the way Rakesh described there. The benefit of that investment is spread across a couple of different vintages, and it's quite unusual. Normally, these things would be priced in when we bid or buy on a portfolio segment. And this just for a number of reasons that are between us and that partner, it ended up being booked in this way. Anything else, Rakesh?

我們進行了投資——我們像評估其他任何投資一樣評估了它。我們需要按照 Rakesh 所描述的方式，透過損益表進行分析。這項投資的收益可以分攤到幾個不同的年份，這相當不尋常。通常情況下，當我們對投資組合板塊進行競價或買入時，這些因素都會被計入價格中。由於我們和那位合作夥伴之間的一些原因，最終才以這種方式預訂的。還有什麼事嗎，拉凱什？

Yeah and I think -- and David, good to hear your voice. Look, I think this also exemplifies the unique relationships we have and the length of relationships with our sellers. This is, as Martin said, a unique one-off situation, and this was developed over multiple weeks and months talking to a partner that we have bought from for years. And so it's an opportunity that is economically positive for us. And as a result, we saw the increase in ERC, as I mentioned on the call earlier.

是的，而且我認為——還有大衛，很高興聽到你的聲音。你看，我認為這也反映了我們與賣家之間獨特的合作關係以及我們與賣家之間的長期合作關係。正如馬丁所說，這是一個獨特的特殊情況，這是我們與一位多年來一直合作的伙伴經過數週甚至數月的討論才最終確定的。因此，這對我們來說是一個具有經濟效益的機會。因此，正如我之前在電話會議上提到的，我們看到了 ERC 的增加。

Understood. No, that's helpful, and I was going to ask about kind of the macro in the US and any early indicators on consumer health or changes, but you addressed that at the end, Rakesh. So maybe I'll shift to -- I guess, a question that gets asked every quarter, maybe I'll try to phrase it a little differently.

明白了。不，這很有幫助。我本來想問美國宏觀經濟形勢以及消費者健康狀況或變化方面的任何早期指標，但拉凱什，你最後已經談到了這一點。所以，也許我會換個角度來回答這個問題──我想，這是一個每季都會被問到的問題，也許我會試著用稍微不同的方式來表達。

You've often used the term journey to talk about how all of the operational changes and improvements over time will ultimately get the company to a point in which think GAAP profitability would -- can flow entirely from just regular portfolio income, not a change in expected recoveries.

你經常使用「旅程」一詞來談論隨著時間的推移，所有的營運變革和改進最終將如何使公司達到這樣的境界：GAAP獲利能力可以完全來自常規的投資組合收入，而不是預期回收率的變化。

I'm wondering if there's a way that you could help investors, maybe understand your thinking of the timeline. I think there's 10 quarters in a row of that change in expected recovery line, both components combined being positive,

我想知道您是否可以幫助投資者理解您對時間安排的看法。我認為預期復甦曲線已經連續10個季度出現這種變化，兩個組成部分加起來都是正值。

I think, 15 of the last 16 quarters. So we're multiple years into the journey. And is there sort of a number of quarters or years going forward that an investor can think about in which either the yields at which you're purchasing or the write-up of the assets currently on the books will get us to the point where portfolio income alone kind of gets you to the earnings power that you're showing now?

我認為，過去 16 個季度中有 15 個季度是這樣。所以我們已經走過好幾年了。那麼，投資人可以考慮在未來的幾個季度或幾年內，透過購買股票的收益率或現有資產的增值，能否使投資組合的收入僅憑自身收益就能達到目前所展現的盈利能力呢？

Yeah, I mean that's a good question. And as you say, it comes up. I mean we tried today in the comments earlier to illustrate the breakdown of those components and showing the proportion of the revenue that's coming from cash overperformance versus increases in the future expectations.

嗯，這確實是個好問題。正如你所說，這個問題確實會出現。我的意思是，我們今天早些時候在評論中嘗試解釋了這些組成部分的組成，並展示了現金超額收益與未來預期增長所帶來的收入比例。

So that's one, trying to be more clear about that. The other thing is some of the things, you're right that there is, I guess, a journey is the word that you used -- we are going through that. We did show a chart earlier where you could see the purchase price multiples over time.

這是第一點，我試著把這一點說得更清楚些。還有一點，你說得對，有些事情，我想，用你剛才說的「旅程」這個詞來形容，我們正在經歷這個過程。我們之前展示過一張圖表，您可以從中看到購買價格倍數隨時間的變化。

And you can see that the purchase price multiples have been generally increasing on average. There's been a few vintages here and there that didn't. Those were the COVID vintages that I talked about. But other than that, they've been going up. And I think there's a few reasons for that, that I would mention.

你可以看到，購買價格倍數總體上平均呈上升趨勢。偶爾也會出現一些年份酒沒能達到這個標準的情況。我之前提到的就是那些與新冠疫情相關的年份酒。但除此之外，它們的價格一直在上漲。我認為造成這種情況的原因有幾個，我想提一下。

One is the way we do the underwriting, we do that based on reference data at the time when we underwrite them. So if we then see operational improvements or changes in how we operate or additional investments in legal channel, in all of those examples, those could create higher collections than what was originally underwritten.

一是我們進行承保的方式，我們根據承保時的參考資料進行承保。因此，如果我們看到營運方式的改善或改變，或對法律管道的額外投資，在所有這些例子中，這些都可能帶來比最初承保更高的收款額。

So that's one dynamic that could increase the future expectations. And I would say that we're quite prudent in baking in those assumptions that are -- when their assumptions. Once they're proven out through data, we'll typically start taking them, and that's where you see those things going up.

所以，這是可能提高未來預期的因素之一。而且我認為，我們在將這些假設——當他們的假設——納入考慮時，我們是非常謹慎的。一旦透過數據證明它們是有效的，我們通常就會開始採用它們，這時你就會看到這些指標上升。

The other one is just on the overperformance as such. If we overperform our underwriting targets, it always raises the question, is that overperformance an acceleration of cash, i.e., cash that was expected in the future that we now collected faster? Or is it a betterment of the overall ERC in a given portfolio.

另一個問題只是關於其超常表現本身。如果我們超額完成承保目標，總是會引發這樣的問題：這種超額完成是否意味著現金流加速，也就是原本預計在未來才能獲得的現金，現在我們更快收回了？或者說，它是否改善了特定投資組合的整體 ERC？

And so again, we're prudent that we do the CECL accounting on this. And the combination of those factors and the fact that I think we've had good performance over a long period of time are some of the factors that result in those increases.

因此，我們再次謹慎地對此事進行 CECL 會計處理。這些因素的綜合作用，以及我認為我們長期以來表現良好的事實，都是導致這些成長的因素。

And maybe just one last one. I'm sure others will ask about more of the intricacies of the goodwill write-down. But with or without the goodwill write-down, your tangible book is still at a level that's substantially above your share price. And I wanted to ask about kind of capital allocations and how covenants impact that.

或許就最後一個吧。我相信其他人還會詢問有關商譽減損方面的更多細節。但無論是否提列商譽減損，你的有形帳面價值仍然遠高於你的股價。我想問一下資本配置方面的問題，以及契約條款對此有何影響。

I mean in terms of share buybacks, I know the usual response is you're in the business of purchasing portfolios that generate a strong ROI, and that's kind of always going to be first and foremost. But you're trading at about a 40% discount to tangible book. And is there any level at which allocating some capital to buybacks is almost too hard to not consider?

我的意思是，就股票回購而言，我知道通常的回應是，你們的業務是購買能夠產生強勁投資回報率的投資組合，而這始終是首要考慮因素。但你的交易價格比有形書籍的價格低了大約 40%。是否存在這樣一種情況：將部分資金用於股票回購，以至於幾乎無法忽視？

I mean that's a good question and a fair question. We did -- we laid out our capital allocation framework in our investor presentation a few months ago. And as you said, our primary goal is to invest in profitable portfolios, especially at a time when we have a healthy supply environment. We're always looking at trade-offs between different uses of capital, be it portfolio investments, our overall debt and leverage level or investing in legal collections, for example, which is something we've been doing. And clearly, buybacks, especially given where the share price is, is a very important consideration. And we do hear that from investors, and we recognize that.

我的意思是，這是一個很好的問題，也是一個合理的問題。我們已經在幾個月前的投資者報告中闡述了我們的資本配置架構。正如您所說，我們的主要目標是投資於盈利的投資組合，尤其是在我們擁有健康的供應環境的當下。我們一直在權衡不同資本用途之間的利弊，無論是投資組合、整體債務和槓桿水平，還是投資於法律催收等，而這正是我們一直在做的事情。顯然，考慮到目前的股價，股票回購是一個非常重要的考慮因素。我們也確實從投資人那裡聽過這種說法，我們也意識到了這一點。

We did do some limited buybacks in the second quarter. We did not do any buybacks in the third quarter. That was just based on our overall assessment of the various opportunities that we had for using our capital and also keeping an eye on the leverage. We're very focused on making sure that we're prudent on managing our leverage levels as well.

我們在第二季度進行了一些有限的股票回購。第三季我們沒有進行任何股票回購。那隻是基於我們對各種資本使用機會的整體評估，同時也要關注槓桿率。我們也非常注重謹慎地管理我們的槓桿水平。

We do have a remaining authorization of $58 million that was authorized by the Board a couple of years ago. That's still there. We have some restrictions related to debt covenants that are in place. But buybacks is definitely something that is, I would say, in our arsenal. And when we feel that that's the best use of capital for value creation for shareholders, we'll consider doing that.

我們還有一筆剩餘的授權資金，金額為 5800 萬美元，這是董事會幾年前批准的。那個東西還在那裡。我們有一些與債務契約相關的限制。但我認為，股票回購絕對是我們可用的手段之一。當我們認為這是為股東創造價值的最佳資本利用方式時，我們會考慮這樣做。

Understood. Well, thank you very much and congratulations on all the operational improvements.

明白了。非常感謝，也祝賀你們在營運方面取得的所有改進。

Great. Thanks, Scharf..

偉大的。謝謝，沙夫。

Mark Hughes, Truist.

馬克·休斯，Truist。

Yeah, thank you, good afternoon. The $15 million purchase price adjustment, that is -- I hear you that it has a positive long-term economic benefit. But in the quarter itself, it shows up only as an expense. There was not any offsetting increase or change in expected recoveries.

好的，謝謝，下午好。也就是說，1500萬美元的購買價格調整——我明白你的意思，它具有積極的長期經濟效益。但在當季數據中，它只顯示為一項支出。預期回收率沒有出現任何抵消性的增加或變化。

Yeah, so Mark, it's Rakesh. You actually have a benefit as well. So it does show up as a $15 million change in expected recoveries line item as an expense, but also there is an ERC benefit that we recorded. It spans multiple vintages. And so we're actually very happy with the arrangement that we had because that increase in ERC is we know going to be real, and it's derived from our continued emphasis on the legal channel. And as a result, going to the earlier question around portfolio income, that should continue to drive increased portfolio income as we move forward as well.

是的，馬克，我是拉凱什。你其實也有好處。因此，它確實作為一項支出，在預期回收額項目中增加了 1500 萬美元的變化，但我們也記錄了一項 ERC 收益。它涵蓋了多個年份。因此，我們對目前的安排非常滿意，因為我們知道 ERC 的成長是實實在在的，而且它源自於我們對合法管道的持續重視。因此，回到先前關於投資組合收益的問題，隨著我們不斷前進，這也應該會繼續推動投資組合收益的成長。

Hello Rakesh, can you hear me?

你好，拉凱什，你聽得到我說話嗎？

Yeah, we can hear you, Mark.

是的，我們能聽到你說話，馬克。

And so the net-net, did you disclose the net-net the $15 million expense and then the benefit? Is it a net positive benefit when you take the--

所以總的來說，你是否披露了1500萬美元的支出以及收益？服用該藥是否會帶來淨收益？

Yeah, Mark, we haven't. But the way you should just think about it is just like in any new deal where you have a purchase price multiple, there is a purchase price multiple associated with this. And it is positive, both from nominal dollars as well as from an NPV perspective.

是的，馬克，我們還沒有。但你應該這樣想：就像任何新的交易一樣，都會有一個購買價格倍數，這筆交易也有一個與之相關的購買價格倍數。無論從名目美元價值或淨現值角度來看，結果都是正面的。

Yeah, very good. The goodwill charge, was there any part of that, that was tied to the underlying financial performance of the assets? I heard you saying that it has an impact on ERC, et cetera. But is it maybe just kind of a reduced level of business activity that could trigger some of that? Or is it entirely just this public equity?

是的，非常好。商譽費用中是否有任何部分與資產的基本財務績效掛鉤？我聽你說過它對ERC等有影響。但會不會只是商業活動水準的下降才引發了這種情況呢？或者，這完全只是公共股權問題？

Yeah, I can take that. So as we said, it's a nonrecurring, noncash balance sheet adjustment. And as Rakesh said, it's primarily related to acquisitions that were done in Europe, the biggest of which was Active Capital, which is more than 10 years ago. The European business continues to perform really well. We delivered 10% overperformance against cash in the third quarter.

是的，我可以接受。正如我們所說，這是一項非經常性、非現金的資產負債表調整。正如拉凱什所說，這主要與在歐洲進行的收購有關，其中最大的一筆收購是Active Capital，那是10多年前的事了。歐洲業務持續表現優異。第三季度，我們的現金流量表現超出預期 10%。

Year-to-date, Europe is up 11% against target. Europe contributed again to the upward revision in the expected future recovery. So that's a sign that it's overperforming. If you saw that table we showed earlier, Europe has had six consecutive years of overperformance against underwritten targets. So generally speaking, Europe has contributed very positively to PRA's results and continues to do so.

今年迄今為止，歐洲經濟成長率比目標高出 11%。歐洲再次推高了未來經濟復甦預期。所以這表明它的性能超出了預期。如果你看過我們之前展示的那張表格，你會發現歐洲已經連續六年超額完成核保目標。總的來說，歐洲對PRA的業績做出了非常積極的貢獻，而且這種貢獻還在持續。

So this goodwill charge, it's really just a mechanical accounting adjustment. Rakesh, you can maybe describe that a little bit more, but I really think it's important to make that point that the European business continues to perform well.

所以這項商譽費用，其實只是會計上的機械調整。拉凱什，你或許可以再詳細解釋一下，但我真的認為有必要強調一點，那就是歐洲業務繼續表現良好。

Yeah and I'll just start by saying, first of all, there is no impact to our operations, to our portfolios, to our ERC from the goodwill charge. It is completely noncash, as Martin said. And Mark, the goodwill amount, it's basically writing off the entire amount of the goodwill that is associated with our debt buying business. So what you will see is a slight amount of $27 million left on our balance sheet.

是的，首先我要說的是，商譽費用不會對我們的營運、投資組合或企業重組造成任何影響。正如馬丁所說，這完全是非現金交易。馬克，商譽金額，基本上就是註銷與我們債務收購業務相關的全部商譽金額。所以你會看到，我們的資產負債表上只剩下2700萬美元。

That is related to our claims servicing business that is servicing securities and non-securities claims. And so from our perspective, this charge -- we took it this quarter. It's really driven by the goodwill impairment test that you're required to do annually. And we had a trigger just given the sustained decline in our stock price.

這與我們處理證券和非證券索賠的理賠服務業務有關。因此，從我們的角度來看，這項指控——我們在本季承擔了這項指控。這實際上是由你每年都必須進行的商譽減損測試所驅動的。鑑於我們股價持續下跌，我們找到了觸發因素。

So given that, we had to undertake an assessment of our goodwill. And based on the assessment, we made a determination just given where our stock level is relative to the fair value of the business, we had to make a comparison and then that analysis led to a write-off of the goodwill.

因此，有鑑於此，我們必須對我們的商譽進行評估。根據評估結果，考慮到我們的庫存水準相對於企業的公允價值，我們做出了決定，我們必須進行比較，然後該分析導致了商譽的註銷。

Yeah, okay, very good, yeah, and I hear you clearly that you've been outperforming in Europe, but has no impact on the ERC or collections, anything like that. Rakesh, the guidance for high single digits collections growth.

是的，好的，很好，是的，我清楚地聽到你的意思，你在歐洲的表現一直很出色，但這不會對歐洲區域合作聯盟（ERC）或收款等產生任何影響。拉凱什，預計營收將實現接近兩位數的成長。

If I look at your strength through the first three quarters, that implies a bit of a deceleration in the fourth quarter, maybe down into the mid-single digits in terms of year-over-year growth. Is that the message we should take? Or is this just kind of keeping the guidance in place, but not necessarily giving us any strong message about Q3 versus Q4 growth?

如果我看一下你前三個季度的強勁表現，這意味著第四季度增速會有所放緩，同比增速可能會降至個位數中段。這就是我們應該接受的訊息嗎？或者這只是維持先前的指引，但並沒有就第三季與第四季的成長給出任何明確的訊息？

Yeah, so Mark, good observation. I would say that it's the latter, which is we didn't want to change our target. But as you highlighted, we've been delivering growth that is north of 10%. We do expect typically, Q4 tends to be slightly lower than Q3, and we would expect that Q4 would be slightly lower, but we feel very comfortable with the target that we have put out there. And to the point you made, we expect that we would continue to hit or meet -- continue to hit or exceed that target for the full year.

是的，馬克，觀察得很仔細。我認為是後者，也就是說我們不想改變目標。但正如您所強調的，我們的成長率一直超過 10%。我們通常預期第四季度會略低於第三季度，我們也預期第四季會略低於第三季度，但我們對我們提出的目標感到非常有信心。正如您所指出的，我們預計全年將繼續達到或超過該目標。

Yeah, very good. Okay, thank you very much.

是的，非常好。好的，非常感謝。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Robert Dodd, Raymond James.

Robert Dodd，Raymond James。

Hi guys, on the, at the risk of beating the dead horse, on the $15 million payment, and I think you've been very clear, but one-off related to purchase some time ago. But the question is, is it one-off because it was the only one that you could figure out how to adjust? Or another way of putting it, like what percentage of your book as it exists today is ineligible because of contracts to go through the legal collections channel.

大家好，關於那筆 1500 萬美元的付款，雖然有點老生常談，但我想你們已經解釋得很清楚了，那是一筆與之前購買有關的一次性款項。但問題是，這是否只是個例，因為這是你唯一能找到調整方法的案例？換句話說，你現在出版的書籍中，有多少百分比因為合約的原因而無法透過法律途徑進行追討？

I mean, was this the only one? Or is there more, but you think it's not worth making the change? I mean, obviously, legal collections have been performing really well. So is there some meaningful chunk of the book that's just ineligible for the channel?

我的意思是，這是唯一一起嗎？或者還有更多原因，但你認為不值得改變？我的意思是，很顯然，合法追討欠款的進展非常順利。那麼，這本書中是否有一些重要的部分因為不符合頻道播放條件而無法播出呢？

Yeah, I would say that this was just a unique set of circumstances that were related to this particular partner. When we price portfolios, we know upfront if there are any criteria around legal collections. So some sellers will have certain thresholds for face values. Some will have certain thresholds for a proportion that they want us to go legal.

是的，我認為這只是與這位特定伴侶有關的一系列特殊情況。在對投資組合進行定價時，我們會事先知道是否有與合法催收相關的任何標準。因此，有些賣家會對面值設定一定的門檻。有些人會設定一定的閾值，規定達到某個比例就要求我們採取法律行動。

There are some sellers that don't want us to do legal at all, and there are others that have no restrictions whatsoever. So we would always price -- we would price into our curves an expectation around that. And normally, it doesn't change. Once we've set that upfront, that's the way it is. But it does happen from time to time that the sellers revise their own criteria.

有些賣家完全不希望我們採取任何法律手段，而有些賣家則沒有任何限制。因此，我們總是會根據預期來定價——我們會將這種預期納入我們的價格曲線中。通常情況下，這種情況不會改變。一旦我們事先設定好，事情就是這樣了。但賣家偶爾也會修改自己的標準。

So it's not like we're taking more risk or anything like that, but they might -- there are cases where they decide that actually, we had a certain threshold and now we're going to change that. And so when and if that happens, we can go back and review that.

所以這並不是說我們要承擔更大的風險，或諸如此類的事情，但他們可能會——在某些情況下，他們會決定，實際上，我們之前設定了一個一定的門檻，現在我們要改變這個門檻。所以，當這種情況發生時，我們可以回頭進行審查。

So it's -- I would say it's -- all of those things are priced into the ERC of the portfolios. And this was just an unusual case where we determined by working together with this partner that there was an opportunity to make this adjustment. And as Rakesh said, I think it reflects a good relationship, but it's not something that I would expect to happen very often, and it hasn't happened very often either in the past.

所以——我認為——所有這些因素都已反映在投資組合的預期收益率（ERC）中。這是一個特殊案例，我們與合作夥伴共同努力後，確定有機會進行此調整。正如拉凱什所說，我認為這反映了良好的關係，但這並不是我期望經常發生的事情，而且過去確實不常發生。

Got it, thank you. I mean if I can -- on the COVID vintages. I mean, when I look at the '23 to '24, for example, I mean, when year-to-date, the '23 -- and this isn't a new issue. Obviously, we've been aware that '21 in the COVID vintage for a while. But it just the discrepancy between how the '23s are performing in the '24 seems just so pronounced to me. So can you give us any more -- in the change in expected recoveries on the '23 so far this year, it's a negative 33%.

明白了，謝謝。我的意思是，如果可以的話——就拿新冠疫情期間釀造的葡萄酒來說吧。我的意思是，例如，當我查看 2023 年到 2024 年的數據時，我的意思是，就年初至今而言，2023 年——而且這並不是一個新問題。顯然，我們早就意識到「21」是新冠疫情時期。但我覺得2023款和2024款車型的差距實在太大了。那麼，您還能提供更多資訊嗎？ ——今年到目前為止，23 年預期復甦情況的變化為負 33%。

And the '24 it's a positive 27%. I mean, are there real material differences in type of client who you purchased for in '23 to '24? I mean it just seems that the trends are so different but it's less than 12 months between many of those portfolios within those vintages.

而2024年的增幅為27%。我的意思是，2023 年和 2024 年你購買產品的客戶類型之間是否存在實質差異？我的意思是，雖然趨勢看起來截然不同，但許多年份的投資組合之間的時間間隔不到 12 個月。

I mean, how is the mix still so different for those vintages? I mean it's not like the '23s are kind of leveling out. It's 33% negative now. It was negative 20. So it's continuing to deteriorate, but the '24s are continuing to accelerate is what it looks like. They're becoming further and further apart. Can you help me understand kind of what's going on there?

我的意思是，為什麼這些年份的葡萄酒的成分仍然如此不同？我的意思是，23屆球員的水準並沒有趨於穩定。現在陰性率為33%。當時氣溫是零下20度。所以情況還在持續惡化，但看起來「24」系列賽車的速度卻在繼續加快。他們之間的距離越來越遠。你能幫我了解那裡到底發生了什麼事嗎？

Yeah, so first of all, the -- what we did this quarter was to do a an additional deep dive, as I described it. Every quarter, we do review and assess our forward-looking expectations on all the curves. That's the CECL process. And even if we make minor adjustments on the ERC, those can have a significant impact on a given quarter. So that's what creates this dynamic of the shifting around of the revenue sometimes in a given quarter. That's just one of the dynamics. We did this additional deep dive.

是的，首先，我們本季所做的，正如我所描述的，是進行額外的深入研究。每個季度，我們都會對所有曲線的前瞻性預期進行審查和評估。這就是CECL流程。即使我們對 ERC 進行微小的調整，這些調整也可能對某個季度產生重大影響。這就是造成某一季度營收出現波動的原因。這只是其中一種動態因素。我們進行了這項額外的深度研究。

So in addition to the normal process, we brought in additional analysts who are strong underwriters. We leveraged people from a few different markets, and we went through it in more depth than we normally would. And this is what led us to these revisions that we have done here. Every portfolio and every vintage has its own story, I would say.

因此，除了正常的流程之外，我們還引進了其他一些優秀的承銷分析師。我們利用了來自幾個不同市場的人員，並且比平常更深入地進行了研究。正是這一點促使我們進行了這些修改。我認為，每個作品集和每個年份都有其獨特的故事。

A lot of it is a matter of the shape of the cash flow curves, the underwriting data that was used at the time and so on. So some of these adjustments here just reflect that. And that's why we call the COVID vintages kind of like loosely, but it was just coming out of the COVID period, we had reference data that was affected by the stimulus that went on. So that had to be adjusted for. You had sort of a selection bias in the kinds of customers that flowed through and charged off in that environment as well.

許多因素都與現金流曲線的形狀、當時使用的承保數據等等有關。所以，這裡的一些調整正是反映了這一點。這就是為什麼我們把新冠疫情年份葡萄酒稱為“新冠疫情年份葡萄酒”，雖然只是粗略地稱呼，但當時正值新冠疫情時期，我們有受當時刺激措施影響的參考數據。所以必須對此進行調整。在這種環境下，顧客的類型（包括進出和離開的顧客）也存在某種選擇性偏差。

So all of those things created an environment that, for us, made those vintages struggle. So I think we're on firmer footing there. And that the -- as you point out, the performance so far on the more recent vintages is looking better.

因此，所有這些因素共同創造了一種環境，對我們來說，這種環境使得那些年份的葡萄酒釀造工作舉步維艱。所以我覺得我們在這方面更有把握了。正如你所指出的，就目前來看，較新年份的葡萄酒表現較好。

And we obviously monitor very closely where we are by months on book. So at this stage in the curve, how is it performing? So on that basis, we're more comfortable with where those things sit. And the last thing I'd say is just to keep in mind the global diversification here. These US vintages get a lot of focus on these calls. They're only 10% of the global ERC right now.

我們顯然會密切關注我們按月計算的訂單進度。那麼，在曲線的這個階段，它的表現如何？因此，基於此，我們對這些事情的現狀更加滿意了。最後我想說的是，要記住這裡有全球多元化問題。這些美國年份葡萄酒在這些通話中備受關注。他們目前只佔全球ERC的10%。

And we benefited from the global diversification of having really strong performance in Europe over many years, including during the COVID period. And it was just that the COVID dynamics played out differently there and didn't affect the data in the same way. And so on a global level, we've had that stability and benefited from the diversification of the ERC.

我們受益於全球多元化策略，多年來在歐洲取得了非常強勁的業績，包括在新冠疫情期間。只是那裡的 COVID 疫情發展情況有所不同，對數據的影響方式也不同。因此，從全球層面來看，我們擁有了這種穩定性，並受益於歐洲區域合作聯盟的多元化。

I appreciate that color one more, if I can. In Europe, to your point, and then in prepared remarks, I mean, it sounds like Southern Europe, you seem to reach the standard for you to call it out particularly in terms of performance and also more opportunity to purchase. I mean are the return dynamics in Southern Europe really shifting significantly in your favor in terms of like should we expect greater deployments into that geographic area?

如果可以的話，我比較喜歡那個顏色。在歐洲，正如你所說，在準備好的發言中，我的意思是，聽起來像是南歐，你似乎達到了可以特別指出的標準，尤其是在性能和​​購買機會方面。我的意思是，南歐的投資回報動態是否真的發生了對你有利的顯著變化，例如，我們是否應該預期在該地區進行更多投資？

And if so, I mean, does that change any of the dynamics about how you go about your outsourcing efforts, et cetera, et cetera? I mean does that -- is it really -- am I reading too much into that? Or has it really changed? Or how does that play out over the next year or so?

如果是這樣，我的意思是，這會改變你進行外包工作的方式等等嗎？我的意思是，那真的是那樣嗎？ ——我是不是想太多了？還是說情況真的改變了？或者說，接下來一年左右的時間裡，情況又會如何發展？

Yeah, so I'm answering -- next month will be my 14th year in the company. And so I've sat on our investment committee in Europe for 14 years. And if I look at Southern Europe, it's gone through an evolution. Coming out of the global financial crisis, there were quite, I think, quite good opportunities there. However, there also was a flurry of competitors flooding into those markets.

是的，所以我來回答——下個月就是我在公司工作的第14年了。因此，我已擔任我們歐洲投資委員會委員 14 年了。而如果我看看南歐，就會發現它經歷了一場演變。我認為，走出全球金融危機後，出現了相當不錯的機會。然而，與此同時，大量競爭對手也湧入了這些市場。

And so for many years, we struggled to invest there. And it's not like we've wildly changed our investment hurdles. It's just that the market went into a situation where we just couldn't win anything at our investment criteria. And we tried to be very disciplined, and we just sort of stand it out. We bid on all the portfolios. We always would do that, but we struggled and we struggle to win. So we went as much as -- we went over one year, in one case, two years without buying a single account. And that's tough to maintain a business.

因此，多年來，我們一直難以在那裡進行投資。而且，我們的投資門檻並沒有太大變化。只是市場進入了一個局面，以我們的投資標準，我們根本無法獲利。我們努力做到非常自律，結果就顯得與眾不同。我們對所有投資組合都進行了競標。我們一直都想那樣做，但我們過去很難，現在也很難取得勝利。所以，我們最長的一次——有的甚至超過一年，兩年都沒有購買任何帳戶。這樣很難維持一家企業。

You may remember those years. And then -- if I fast forward a bit, I would say that over the -- our observation over the past year or so has been that the competitive dynamic in Southern Europe has sort of stabilized. It's still competitive. So don't get me wrong. It still remains competitive. But we've gotten into a situation where -- we went from a situation where we couldn't even make it to the second round on most of the bids.

你或許還記得那些年。然後——如果我快轉一下，我會說，在過去一年左右的時間裡，我們觀察到南歐的競爭格局已經趨於穩定。競爭依然激烈。所以別誤會我的意思。它仍然保持競爭力。但我們現在的情況是——我們之前的情況是，大多數投標我們甚至都進不了第二輪。

Even though we have not changed our return hurdles all that much, we've been able to successfully deploy more capital there. And this goes back to the point I was making earlier. We do have a global capital allocation framework. So if a window of opportunity opens up in a market, we'll be ready to move there. But we also have to be really disciplined about it.

儘管我們的回報門檻並沒有太大變化，但我們已經能夠成功地將更多資金投入這些領域。這與我之前提出的觀點不謀而合。我們確實擁有全球資本配置框架。因此，如果某個市場出現機會窗口，我們將隨時準備進軍。但我們也必須在這方面保持高度自律。

So in terms of Southern Europe going forward, I'm not -- I don't really know what the dynamic is going to be. I think right now, if it remains at a competitive level like it is now, we'll win some, we'll lose some, and those could be decent markets.

所以就南歐未來的發展而言，我不太清楚——我真的不知道未來的發展趨勢會是什麼樣子。我認為，如果目前的競爭水平保持不變，我們會贏一些，也會輸一些，而這些贏的和輸的市場可能都不錯。

So I'm glad looking back that we hung in there in those markets. I don't expect huge needle-moving dramatic shifts there. But I think the commentary we put in was just to explain a little bit about why after having such a low share of our ERC in Southern Europe, did we -- are we looking -- have we been deploying more capital there? And it's really a matter of us taking the opportunity that the market has, in our view, stabilized to the point where we're able to make investments there.

所以現在回想起來，我很慶幸我們堅持在那些市場中站穩了腳步。我不認為那裡會出現翻天覆地的變化。但我認為我們添加的評論只是為了解釋一下，為什麼我們在南歐的投資份額如此之低之後，我們——我們正在考慮——是否已經向那裡投入了更多資金？實際上，我們抓住機會，因為我們認為市場已經穩定到可以進行投資的程度。

Got it Thank you.

明白了，謝謝。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back to Martin Sjolund for closing comments. Sir, please go ahead.

目前沒有其他問題了。我想把電話轉回給馬丁·肖倫德，請他做總結發言。先生，請繼續。

Yeah, thank you. So thanks, everyone, for getting on and for listening and for good questions. Just looking back, I think this was a quarter of real execution on a range of areas. I think we continue to make good progress. And as I said, I think we have a great team, a good opportunity, and we look forward to continuing to deliver results for PRA. So thank you.

是啊，謝謝。謝謝大家的參與、聆聽和提出的好問題。回顧過去，我認為這是各個領域真正執行到位的季度。我認為我們持續取得良好進展。正如我所說，我認為我們擁有一支優秀的團隊，一個好的機會，我們期待繼續為PRA帶來成果。所以，謝謝你。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you very much for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。非常感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。