Performant Financial Corp. yesterday announced double-digit revenue increases for both the fourth quarter of 2018 and the full year compared with the same periods a year earlier.
Revenue for the fourth quarter was $39.8 million, up from $33.3 million in the same quarter of 2017. For the whole year, revenue at Performance was $155.7 million, up from $132 million in 2017.
The company announced a net loss of $5.3 million for the fourth quarter and $8 million for the whole year, compared with net income of $0.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2017 and a net loss of $12 million for all of 2017.
Revenue from the company’s student lending operation was down 20% for the fourth quarter of 2018, to $18 million. Healthcare revenues were up more than threefold, to $11.1 million.
The company pointed to the completion of its acquisition of Premiere Credit of North America as a key driver of its growth going forward. Performance has set a goal of reaching $200 million in annual revenue by 2021.
Lisa Im, Performant’s chief executive officer, also shared her comments about the decision by the Department of Education to cancel a contract with Performant and several other companies to service student loans on behalf of the agency.
“We also faced our shared headwinds during 2018, including the decision from the Department of Education to cancel its procurement, thus terminating the contract that has been previously awarded to perform it,” Im said, according to a transcript of a call with analysts to discuss the company’s financial results. “We disagree with their decision, particularly since the amount of defaulted students loans being managed by the Department of Education has continued to increase.”
