IRVINE, Calif. — In reporting third-quarter results, Consumer Portfolio Services' chief executive officer called this period a turning point for the company.

Basically, total revenues for the quarter came in at $52.8 million, a drop of about $38.9 million, or 42.4 percent, compared with $91.7 million posted in the same period of 2008.

Meanwhile, operating expenses were $57.1 million, down $47.3 million, or 45.3 percent, compared with $104.4 million in the year-ago time frame.

Continuing on, the company reported a pretax loss of $4.3 million, compared with $12.6 million in the third quarter of 2008. The net loss came in at $4.3 million, or 23 cents per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $6.3 million, or 32 cents, a year ago.

Officials noted that the 2008 quarter included a pretax loss on the sale of $14 million in receivables.

During the third quarter, CPS purchased $506,000 in contracts from dealers, compared with $937,000 during the second quarter and $33.6 million in the third quarter of 2008.

The company's managed receivables, meanwhile, came in at about $1.197 million, down $632.2 million, or 34.6 percent, from about $1.83 million in the third quarter of 2008.

"We believe the third quarter marked an important turning point for the company in navigating the treacherous waters of the ‘great recession,'" noted Charles Bradley Jr., chief executive officer and president.

"The improvement in the capital markets that began in March has finally reached us. As previously reported, we opened a new credit facility in late September that has allowed us to begin our efforts to purchase meaningful amounts of contracts again," he continued.

"We also feel that attracting additional funding capacity should be achievable. In addition, subsequent to quarter-end we took over the servicing on a $146 million portfolio, which improves the operating leverage of our servicing platform. All of these events should put us on the path to growth in 2010," Bradley pointed out.

Looking at the nine-month period, CPS said total revenues were $177.2 million, a decrease of about $116.6 million, or 39.7 percent, compared with $293.8 million for the same time frame in 2008.

Total expenses for the time period came in at $188 million, down $112 million, or 37.3 percent, compared with $300 million for the same nine-month period in 2008.

Reviewing pretax loss trends, the company indicated this was $10.8 million, compared with $6.2 million in 2008. Net loss, meanwhile, came in at $10.8 million, or 57 cents per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $2.7 million, or 14 cents per diluted share in the prior year. Officials noted that the 2008 time frame included a pretax loss on the $14 million sale of receivables.

Annualized net charge-offs for the third quarters came in at 10.44 percent of the average owned portfolio, compared to 7.20 percent in the same period of 2008.

Delinquencies greater than 30 days, including repossession inventory, stood at 8.83 percent of the portfolio, compared to 7.68 percent in the same time frame of last year.

"The increase in net charge-off and delinquency percentages versus the year-ago period can be partly attributed to the aging of the portfolio and the significant decrease in the size of the managed portfolio as nominal new-contract purchases have not replaced portfolio run-off," officials pointed out.