Australia’s largest listed debt collector has turned a record profit after taking a tougher stand on collections in the United States.
Sydney-based Credit Corp, which buys bad debts and tries to collect them, made an after-tax profit of $105.5 million in the 12 months to June 30, up 12 per cent from 2024/25.
Revenue was up seven per cent to $586 million.
“Earnings grew across all segments, but the US produced most of our growth,” chief executive Thomas Beregi said in an online presentation.
Credit Corp’s profit from the US market was up 57 per cent to $26.2 million, while profit from its Australia and New Zealand debt-buying and collection operations rose five per cent to $23.4 million.
Credit Corp re-tooled its US legal collection channel, taking more consumers to court, and managed to grow collections in the June quarter by 25 per cent.
“We have previously been less competitive in legal collections against our major peers, but recent results show that the gap is closing,” Mr Beregi said.
The debts that Credit Corp acquires, generally from banks and utilities, are typically more than six months in arrears.
The company says it treats its customers fairly and respectfully and has one of the industry’s lowest level of external dispute resolution complaints.
Credit Corp also engages in consumer lending in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, turning a $56 million profit on this business, up three per cent from the previous year.
Credit Corp said its 10-year-old Wallet Wizard Australia product, which offers unsecured loans of up to $8,000 at an annual rate of 47.8 per cent, was continuing to surprise to the upside, while its new Wizit digital credit card was still incurring losses.
It declared a final dividend of 45.5 cents per share, up from 36c a share a year ago.
Credit Corp predicted it would make a full-year profit of $110 million to $118 million in 2026/27.
Near noon, Credit Corp shares were down 10.3 per cent to $12.335.
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
