Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. reports third quarter 2014 net income of $191.4 million, or $0.54 per diluted common share, up 72 percent from prior year.

DALLAS, Nov. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SC) ("SCUSA") today announced net income for third quarter 2014 of $191.4 million, or $0.54 per diluted common share, compared to net income attributable to SCUSA shareholders for third quarter 2013 of $111.2 million, or $0.32 per diluted common share.

"Our Company delivered strong results with quarterly net income growth of 72 percent from prior year. Net income through nine months was $519.3 million, or $1.46 per diluted share. However, core net income¹ through nine months was $595.2 million, or $1.67 per diluted share, keeping us ahead of our EPS objective for the year," said Tom Dundon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

In the third quarter, total originations were $7.4 billion, including more than $3.0 billion in Chrysler retail loans, more than $1.2 billion in Chrysler leases originated for our own portfolio, and approximately $604 million in Chrysler lease and dealer loan originations facilitated for an affiliate. Other originations, including other auto and unsecured consumer loans, for the quarter totaled $2.5 billion. Total origination growth was 13 percent for the third quarter of 2014 as compared to 2013. For the first nine months of 2014, origination volume was $21.4 billion, including more than $9.1 billion in Chrysler retail loans, more than $3.7 billion in Chrysler leases, and approximately $1.6 billion in Chrysler lease and dealer loan originations facilitated for an affiliate. Other originations, including other auto and unsecured consumer loans, for the first nine months totaled $7.0 billion.

Mr. Dundon noted, "We have demonstrated strong origination volumes given our robust national origination franchise and the growing Chrysler relationship. A portion of our originations were sold to third parties or facilitated for an affiliate, which more than doubled our serviced for others portfolio since December 31, 2013. Continued prime loan sales, consistent with growing the capital-light fee income business, demonstrate our strategy to retain higher margin paper, which is accretive to long-term earnings. Although there are higher losses and provisions associated with these retained assets, we are comfortable with the risk and prefer the more attractive structures."

Finance receivables, loans and leases, net, increased 3 percent to $27.3 billion at September 30, 2014 from $26.5 billion at June 30, 2014 and increased 17 percent from $23.4 billion at December 31, 2013, driven by Chrysler Capital. During the quarter, SCUSA sold $2.4 billion of retail installment contracts with a higher average APR than the $739 million sold in third quarter 2013 and the $1.4 billion sold in the second quarter of 2014, due to the sale of more near-prime loans through our CCART platform as compared to the flow agreements which comprised all sales during the second quarter 2014 and the third quarter 2013. SCUSA's retained portfolio average APR as of the end of the third quarter for retail installment contracts was 16.3 percent, in line with the 16.3 percent as of the end of the fourth quarter 2013.

Net finance and other interest income increased 24 percent to $1.1 billion in the third quarter 2014 from $901 million in the third quarter 2013, driven by the 30 percent year-over-year growth in the average portfolio. The provision for credit losses increased to $770 million in the third quarter 2014, from $598 million in the third quarter 2013, and from $589 million in the second quarter 2014. The quarter-over-quarter provision increase was mainly driven by the maturing unsecured consumer loan portfolio as well as expected seasonal patterns as performance deteriorates in the second half of the year. Year-over-year provision increase was mainly attributable to portfolio growth as well as the maturing of the unsecured portfolio, partly offset by impact from the runoff of purchased portfolios. The allowance for loan losses increased to $3.3 billion at September 30, 2014, from $3.1 billion at June 30, 2014, resulting in an increase in the allowance to loans ratio to 12.3 percent from 11.6 percent.

SCUSA's net charge-off ratio increased to 8.4 percent for the third quarter 2014 from 5.8 percent for the second quarter 2014, and increased from 6.4 percent for the third quarter 2013, consistent with expected seasonal patterns and portfolio mix. The net charge-off ratio for retail installment contracts increased to 7.9 percent for the third quarter 2014 from 5.2 percent for the second quarter 2014, and increased from 6.5 percent for the third quarter 2013. Additionally, SCUSA's delinquency ratio increased moderately to 4.1 percent as of the end of the third quarter 2014 from 3.8 percent at the end of the second quarter 2014, and is in line with the 4.0 percent delinquency ratio as of the end of the third quarter 2013. As the unsecured portfolio seasons and used car values decrease from recent highs, net charge-offs are increasing both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year.

"The allowance to loans ratio has increased due to seasonal and model impacts, as well as the mix of retained loans. Based on the configuration of our forward-looking provisioning model, we typically see an impact in the third quarter due to the model capturing two full fourth quarters of seasonally worse performance. We have also added provisions to our maturing unsecured business. We remain excited about the opportunity in unsecured and its associated margins. Finally, the execution of the CCART deal, consisting of roughly $1 billion of assets with above average credit profiles, resulted in a shift in the allowance to loans ratio from Q2, which did not include a similar transaction. Year-over-year increases in net losses are expected as historically favorable 2009-2012 vintages roll off and recoveries decrease. We see the shift in losses returning to more normalized levels, and our yields today are in line with our expectations," said Jason Kulas, President and Chief Financial Officer.

During the quarter, SCUSA incurred $202 million of operating expenses, up 15 percent from $176 million in the third quarter 2013, primarily due to SCUSA's strong asset growth over the previous year and some regulatory and compliance enhancements. SCUSA produced a 16.0 percent efficiency ratio for the quarter, compared to 18.0 percent in the same period last year, evidencing SCUSA's scalability as the portfolio grows.

During the quarter, SCUSA continued to show strong access to liquidity with the execution of two securitizations totaling $2.35 billion, $1.25 billion in private term amortizing facilities and an additional $250 million in warehouse borrowing capacity.

Additionally, SCUSA continued to focus on its forward flow relationships in order to leverage its servicing platform and increase servicing fee income. During the quarter, SCUSA completed loan sales totaling $1.4 billion through monthly loan sale programs to Bank of America and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania ("CBP"). Additionally, $1.0 billion in assets were sold via the Chrysler Capital prime retail securitization platform ("CCART"). Year-to-date, SCUSA has sold or facilitated originations of over $7.4 billion to third parties or to an affiliate. Servicing fee income totaled $20.5 million in the third quarter 2014, up from $7.4 million in the third quarter 2013 primarily due to the increase in the portfolio of loans and leases serviced for others to $10.2 billion as of September 30, 2014, up from $8.0 billion as of June 30, 2014 and $4.5 billion as of December 31, 2013. For the third quarter 2014, net investment gains, which primarily consist of gains on sale, totaled $38.0 million, up from $21.6 million in the second quarter 2014 and $7.7 million in the third quarter 2013, driven mostly by the CCART transaction.

Conference Call Information

SCUSA management will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the third quarter results and other general matters at 9 a.m. EST on Tuesday, November 4, 2014. The conference call will be accessible by dialing 844-856-2691 (U.S. domestic), or 815-926-1990 (international), conference ID 15842998. Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. The conference call will also be accessible via live audio webcast through the Investor Relations section of the corporate website at http://investors.santanderconsumerusa.com. Choose "Events" and select the information pertaining to the Q3 2014 Earnings Call. Additionally there will be several slides accompanying the webcast. Please go to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the call to register, download, and install any necessary software.

For those unable to listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available on the company's website or by dialing 855-859-2056 (U.S. domestic), or 404-537-3406 (international), conference ID 15842998, approximately two hours after the event. The dial-in replay will be available for two weeks after the conference call, and the webcast replay will be available through November 4, 2015. An investor presentation will also be available by visiting the Investor Relations page of SCUSA's website at http://investors.santanderconsumerusa.com.

Non-GAAP Disclosure

This press release includes certain non-GAAP financial measures. A non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure of historical or future financial performance, financial position or cash flows that excludes or includes amounts that are required to be disclosed in the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("U.S. GAAP"). SCUSA believes that this non-GAAP financial measure provides both management and investors a more complete understanding of the underlying operational results and trends and SCUSA's marketplace performance. This additional information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the numbers prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other financial institutions.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, predictions, forecasts, objectives, assumptions, or future events or performance are not historical facts and may be forward-looking. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "anticipates," "believes," "can," "could," "may," "predicts," "potential," "should," "will," "estimates," "plans," "projects," "continuing," "ongoing," "expects," "intends," and similar words or phrases. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties which are subject to change based on various important factors, some of which are beyond our control. For additional discussion of these risks, refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed by us with the SEC. Among the factors that could cause our financial performance to differ materially from that suggested by the forward-looking statements are: (a) we operate in a highly regulated industry and continually changing federal, state, and local laws and regulations could materially adversely affect our business; (b) adverse economic conditions in the United States and worldwide may negatively impact our results; (c) our business could suffer if our access to funding is reduced; (d) we face significant risks implementing our growth strategy, some of which are outside our control; (e) our agreement with Chrysler may not result in currently anticipated levels of growth and is subject to certain performance conditions that could result in termination of the agreement; (f) our business could suffer if we are unsuccessful in developing and maintaining relationships with automobile dealerships; (g) our financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations depend on the credit performance of our loans; (h) loss of our key management or other personnel, or an inability to attract such management and personnel, could negatively impact our business; (i) we are subject to certain regulations, including oversight by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the CFPB, the Bank of Spain, and the Federal Reserve, which oversight and regulation may limit certain of our activities, including the timing and amount of dividends and other limitations on our business; and (j) future changes in our relationship with Santander could adversely affect our operations.  If one or more of the factors affecting our forward-looking information and statements proves incorrect, our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, forward-looking information and statements. Therefore, we caution not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information or statements. The effect of these factors is difficult to predict. Factors other than these also could adversely affect our results, and the reader should not consider these factors to be a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties. New factors emerge from time to time, and management cannot assess the impact of any such factor on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statements only speak as of the date of this document, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking information or statements, whether written or oral, to reflect any change, except as required by law. All forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements.

About Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.

Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SC) ("SCUSA") is a full-service, technology-driven consumer finance company focused on vehicle finance and unsecured consumer lending products. The company, which began originating retail installment contracts in 1997, has a serviced finance portfolio of more than $40 billion (as of September 30, 2014), has more than two million customers across all credit grades, and is headquartered in Dallas. (www.santanderconsumerusa.com)

¹ For a reconciliation from GAAP to this non-GAAP measure, see "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures" on Page 13 of this release.

SOURCE Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.

Related Links

http://www.santanderconsumerusa.com