EDMONTON, Alberta — Carfinco Income Fund got 2010 off to a strong start, posting record net earnings for the fourth consecutive quarter.

The company's $3.6 million in first-quarter net earnings beat the previous record — which was set in the fourth quarter of 2009 — by 37.1 percent.

Not to mention, it marked a 365.1-percent rise in net earnings from the year-ago period, which reached $800,000.

After the first quarter of 2009, the company has posted noted quarterly net earnings of $1.8 million, $2.2 million, $2.6 million and $3.6 million, each of which was an all-time before being broken the subsequent quarter.

Continuing on, Carfinco's quarterly revenue totaled $8.6 million, compared with $7.9 million in the year-ago period.

"Management will continue to focus on growth in 2010," officials noted. "Increased loan originations, within the current underwriting guidelines, are key to this growth."

In the first quarter, the company generated $21.5 million in loan originations, up 40 percent year-over year and a 21.3-percent gain from the prior quarter.

As originations climbed, so did finance receivables, which saw a gain of 4.1 percent.

"To put this growth in context, during all of 2009 Carfinco's finance receivables grew by only 4.8 percent," officials explained. "The first quarter's annualized growth of 16.4 percent is on target with managements stated goal of 15-percent to 20-percent growth in the finance receivables during 2010.

"This has been achieved without lowering underwriting criteria or going beyond our current products or our current geographical service area," they added.

Officials also pointed out that 31-plus-day delinquencies stood at 4.2 percent, down 42.9 percent from the year-ago period, when the ratio was at 7 percent.

Looking forward, the company noted: "We are optimistic for the future as we head into 2010 with increased loan originations within our current guidelines and programs, decreased delinquencies and record financial performance."