MINNETONKA, Minn. - Metris Companies Inc. said Wednesday that its second-quarter earnings rose 30%, to $62.8 million, or 63 cents per share, from $48.3 million, or 53 cents, the year before.
The company, which is primarily a credit card issuer, said its portfolio of managed card loans grew by $661 million in the quarter, to $10.1 billion. It said it added more than 250,000 credit card accounts, for a total of 4.6 million.
Managed credit card fees, interchange, and other credit card income grew 28%, to $156.1 million, from the year earlier. Credit card charge volume was up 27%, to $2.5 billion.
Metris' managed net chargeoff rate was 10.9%, up from 10.6% in the first quarter and 9.5% the year earlier. The managed delinquency rate was 8.3% in the second quarter, down slightly from the first quarter's 8.4% but up from last year's second-quarter rate of 7.7%.
