HOUSTON — The Mint Leasing attributed the difficulty in securing adequate credit streams as reasons for its latest revenue figures remaining off as compared to last year. Company executives detailed the situation recently in its quarterly financial report.

For the three-month quarter that ended Sept. 30, Mint Leasing compiled approximately $3.1 million in revenue. That figure calculated into a net loss of $2.61 million or 3 cents per share.

Through the nine months of the year that also wrapped up Sept. 30, company officials reported a revenue total of about $15.1 million. The amount still computed to a net loss of $2.84 million or 4 cents per share.

Mint Leasing offered its 2008 revenue figures as a comparison. During the third quarter of 2008, the company had approximately $8 million in revenue, but still had a net loss of $2.1 million. For the first nine months of last year, Mint Leasing brought in about $36.8 million in revenue, sustaining a net loss of $2.8 million.

To explain its financial standing for 2009, Mint Leasing executives detailed the obstacles they're facing in the market.

"The decrease in revenues for the third quarter and first nine months of 2009, when compared with revenues for respective prior-year periods, was primarily due to the company's inability to purchase vehicles and issue new leases as a result of restrictive credit availability in the current economic environment," Mint Leasing officials noted.

"The company was unable to borrow funds under its Sterling Bank facility, and its Moody Bank facility was not available until late in the third quarter," they continued.

"Management believes that if it had access to additional capital during the quarter ended Sept. 30, its revenues would have been similar to those reported in the second quarter of 2009, when the company's revenues approximated $5.8 million," they added.

Beyond the credit situation, Mint Leasing spotted other areas of difficulty that translated into its revenue shortfalls.

"The net losses reported for the three and nine months ending Sept. 30 resulted from the cumulative effect of lower revenues, costs associated with the early termination of leases and higher repossessions, increased bad debt expenses, and higher professional fees," company executives pointed out.

Mint Leasing also pointed out that it generated approximately $2.7 million in cash from its operations activities during the first nine months of this year. The company explained that total was primarily due to collections and reductions of net investment in sales-type leases of approximately $7.5 million.

Furthermore, the company mentioned that non-cash charges for bad debt expense, depreciation and amortization, and imputed interest also contributed positively to the cash provided by operating activities.