Cabot Credit Management Announces Financial Results for the 3 months ending 31 March 2015

Cabot Credit Management, a market leading acquirer and manager of consumer debt, today announced the financial results for the three months ending 31 March 2015.

“A strong start to 2015, with adjusted EBITDA up by 42% from £31.5 million in Q1 2014 to £44.7 million,“ said Ken Stannard, Chief Executive Officer. “The fact that we have achieved this strong level of financial performance, at the same time as winning the Credit Today Treating Customers Fairly award, demonstrates that our approach of keeping the customer at the heart of what we do is mutually beneficial.

"We are now into the final stages of the integration of the Cabot and Marlin businesses, with owned customer accounts in the process of being migrated to a common collections platform.

"We submitted our FCA application in Q1 and have had a positive dialogue with the FCA post application."

Highlights

Sustained growth for Cabot Credit Management (CCM)

• 120-month Estimated Remaining Collections (ERC) increased 5% from £1.5 billion to over £1.6 billion compared to the same period in 2014
• Debt purchase collections increased 40% from £50.0 million to £69.7 million compared to three months ending 31 March 2014
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 42% from £31.5 million to £44.7 million compared to three months ending 31 March 2014
• Continued strong growth in Irish business with further purchase made in 2015
• Although market is very competitive, £25m of purchases have been committed for 2015, with a number of corporate opportunities being reviewed. The first quarter of the year is traditionally quiet in terms of purchasing, with the Q1 2014 purchases inflated by 2 specific portfolio acquisitions

Business strategy and operations

• Transition of all debt purchase operations to the same collections platform is well underway
• A number of corporate opportunities are under review and the market expectation continues to be that there is further consolidation
• Application of the Marlin non paying accounts strategy continues to exceed the expectations set at the point of the combination of Cabot and Marlin

Regulatory update

• FCA application for authorisation has been submitted

Teleconference

At 15:00 hours (GMT) on 28 May 2015, Cabot Credit Management will hold an audio conference presentation on the company’s performance. For further details, please visit the Cabot investor website at www.cabotcm.com/investors.

About Cabot Credit Management

Cabot Credit Management is a market leader in debt purchasing, contingency collections, and customer tracing, and is divided into three specialty businesses: Cabot Financial, Cabot Financial Ireland, and Apex Credit Management.

The combined Cabot Credit Management group has purchased assets totalling £1.3 billion, manages over £1 billion of assets on behalf of clients, collects over £30 million per month on portfolios it either

owns or services on behalf of clients, and has delivered consistently strong financial performance, having grown its business in each of the last 16 years without exception.

The group, which has purchased over 4 million customer accounts, employs approximately 950 people with offices in Kings Hill, Stratford-upon-Avon, Dublin, Worthing and London. The company prides itself on its ethical values, customer service and high standards. It has an impressive list of accolades including:

• Credit Today Treating Customers Fairly award
• Investors in People Gold and Champion awards
• Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies To Work For – 2013
• Sunday Times Profit Track 100 – 2013 (Marlin Financial Group)

The controlling shareholder of Cabot Credit Management is Encore Capital Group, an international speciality finance company providing debt recovery solutions, with the remaining equity being held by a fund advised by J.C. Flowers & Co. in addition to company management.