Marlin Business Services reported Q1/18 net income of $6.2 million compared with net income of $1.5 million a year ago. First quarter net income on an adjusted basis was $6.2 million, up 44% from $4.3 million a year ago.

Net investment in loans and leases totaled $930.6 million, up 12.3% from a year ago and total managed assets surpassed the $1 billion milestone and ended the first quarter at $1.02 billion, up 19.4% from a year ago.

Total Q1/18 origination volume (excluding leases and loans originated but referred to third parties) of $159.7 million was up 9.0% year-over-year.

Jeffrey A. Hilzinger, Marlin’s president and CEO, said, “Marlin is off to a good start in 2018 as strong execution continued to drive solid origination volume, stable credit performance and excellent earnings growth. Excluding referral volume, total origination volume was $159.7 million for the quarter compared with $146.5 million last year, resulting in a year-over-year increase of 9%.”

Total direct and indirect origination yield of 12.44% was up 85 basis points from the prior quarter and up 58 basis points year-over-year.

“Growth in the quarter was driven by solid demand for both our Equipment Finance product and Funding Stream, our working capital loan product. During the quarter, yield on our origination volume was 12.44% compared to 11.86% a year ago with Equipment Finance increasing to 9.99% from 9.67% and Funding Stream decreasing from 33.0% to 31.7%,” Hilzinger said.

30+ and 60+ day delinquencies on total finance receivables increased modestly from prior quarter to 105 basis points and 64 basis points, respectively.

“We also continued to gain traction in our direct origination initiative that identifies additional financing opportunities with existing customers,” Hilzinger said. “During the quarter, direct origination volume was $30.9 million compared with $16.6 million last year, resulting in a year-over-year increase of 86%. As part of Marlin’s developing capital markets activities, we referred or sold $27.2 million of leases and loans. As a result of these origination and capital markets activities, our net investment in leases and loans grew to $930.6 million, up 12.3% from a year ago.”

Annualized net charge-offs of 1.68% compared to 1.87% in the prior quarter and 1.57% in the first quarter last year

Provision for credit losses of $4.6 million compared with $4.5 million in the prior quarter and $3.9 million in the first quarter last year

“Also, for the first time our managed assets exceeded $1 billion growing to $1.02 billion compared with $855.3 million a year ago, resulting in a year-over-year increase of 19.4%,” Hilzinger said. “Importantly, our focus on maintaining disciplined underwriting standards continues to be a top priority and credit quality remained stable and within expectations during the quarter.”

Hilzinger concluded, “Our momentum continues to build and puts us on track to achieve our strategic, operational and financial objectives for the year. I look forward to continued strong execution of our strategy, further enhancing our financial performance and driving shareholder value as we move forward.”