Creditrust Corp.'s earnings skyrocketed to $3 million in the second quarter of this year, seven times the $420,000 the credit card debt collection company posted a year ago.

Yesterday's report, for the three months that ended June 30, marked the Baltimore-based company's first since its initial public offering late last month.

Creditrust, which collects unpaid principal on delinquent credit PTC card portfolios it buys from banks and finance companies, sold 2.5 million shares at $15.50 a share.

Creditrust said it will use the $23.5 million in net proceeds from the IPO for working capital and to acquire portfolios of bad credit card debt from banks.

Creditrust generated a profit of 51 cents a share, up from 1 cent during the comparable period in 1997.

Revenue in the quarter also rose steeply, to $8.4 million from $1.95 million in the three-month period last year.

"We are extremely pleased with our operating performance in the second quarter, as well as our overall strategic and financial accomplishments during the first six months of 1998," said Richard J. Palmer, Creditrust's chief financial officer.

In the first half of this year, Creditrust generated net income of $3.5 million, 58 cents per share, up from $216,000, or 4 cents per share, in the first six months of 1997.

The 7-year-old company's revenue for the first six months of the year amounted to $11.8 million, an increase of more than 200 percent from the $3.9 million it posted a year ago.

Also in the first half of the year, Creditrust's total assets nearly doubled to $16.68 million, the result of additions in credit card receivables.

Creditrust shares closed yesterday at $17.125, unchanged.

Pub Date: 8/14/98