Second-quarter earnings fell sharply at IAC/InterActiveCorp, the parent company of online lending service LendingTree and RealEstate.com, a consumer real estate portal.
The media and Internet company reported net income of $53.8 million, or 17 cents a share, down 91 percent from $618.1 million, or $1.77 a share, during the same period a year ago.
Second-quarter revenue grew 18 percent to $1.6 billion from $1.37 billion a year ago.
IAC’s lending segment contributed $9.8 million in operating income, down 37 percent $15.6 million a year earlier. The lending segment added $107.9 million in revenue, a 26 percent spike from $85.4 million during the same quarter last year.
“Lending revenue was driven primarily by higher revenue per loan sold, increased sales of loans into the secondary market, and higher transmit revenue due to both growth in QF volume and higher prices on the exchange,” the company said. “Revenue from refinance, home equity and purchase loans grew strongly, despite the difficult market conditions. Profits were impacted by higher marketing expense as a percentage of revenue versus the prior-year period due in part to lower close rates and higher costs associated with the origination of loans sold into the secondary market.”
The company reported 70,900 closings within its lending services unit, down from 71,400 the previous year. IAC reported 3,400 closings within its real estate services unit, down from 4,000 a year ago.
In the real estate segment, the company saw a loss of $6.8 million in operating income, an improvement from the $9.4 million loss last year. Revenue in the real estate segment was inched up to $15 million from $14.9 million.
In the home services segment, the company grew its operating income 27 percent to $3.5 million, and revenue within the segment jumped 50 percent to $16 million.
The company said the “Home Services revenue benefited from increased customer service requests and a greater number of service providers in the network.” Profits in the segment “grew slower than revenue due to higher marketing and other operating expenses.”
InterActiveCorp’s holdings include home shopping, ticket, travel, lodging, dating and mortgage and real estate-related businesses.
LendingTree is the anchor of IAC’s financial service and real estate businesses, which include RealEstate.com, GetSmart.com and Domania, among others.
IAC stock (Nasdaq: IACI) was trading at $24.71 a share this morning, up 4.2 percent from Monday’s closing price of $23.71.
