CLEARWATER, Fla. -

With the sale of the vehicle financing company influencing some of its bottom-line performances, Nicholas Financial purchased more contracts during the third quarter of its current fiscal year as compared to a year earlier.

The company brought in 3,426 contracts into its portfolio during Q3 that totaled up to be $36.24 million. Those figures are up from 3,004 contracts totaling more than $31.41 million a year ago.

With the sale of Nicholas Financial to Prospect Capital Corp., well on its way to being finalized, the company watched its Q3 net earnings decrease 17 percent to $3.827 million as compared to $4.596 million in the year-ago quarter.

The company reported last week that its per-share diluted net earnings dropped 18 percent to $0.31 as compared to $0.38 during the third quarter of last year.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Financial highlighted that its Q3 revenue moved up by 1 percent year-over-year to $20.761 million, up from $20.605 million.

Looking at company figures through the first nine months of its fiscal year, the same metrics included several of the same movements.

Nicholas Financial indicated net earnings decreased 9 percent to $13.844 million, down from $15.154 the company generated during the first nine months of its last fiscal year.

As a result, the company said its per-share diluted net earnings also dipped 9 percent to $1.13, down from $1.24 through the same span a year earlier.

Likewise, Nicholas Financial's revenue ticked up 1 percent to $62.186 million through nine months, up from $61.738 the company posted during the same span during the prior fiscal year.

Nicholas Financial chairman and chief executive officer Peter Vosotas said, "Our results for the three months ended Dec. 31 were adversely affected by a reduction in the gross portfolio yield and professional fees of $821,000 associated with the previously announced sale of the company."

That sale announcement to Prospect came on Dec. 18. The $340 million transaction is projected to be completed by April.

Vosotas continued to share details about what that move did to Nicholas Financial's Q3 performance.

"Also, after-tax earnings were increasingly impacted as a significant portion of the professional fees were not deductible for income tax purposes resulting in a higher effective tax rate and after-tax impact of $0.07 per share," he said.

"Our results for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2012 were affected by an after-tax charge of $747,000 or $0.06 per share related to a 5 percent withholding tax associated with the one-time special cash dividend of $2.00 per share paid in December 2012," Vosotas went on to say.

While Nicholas Financial is in the process of switching to new ownership, Vosotas shed light on what the company's strategy is going forward.

"We continue to develop additional markets and expect to open one additional location during the fourth quarter, which ends March 31," he said.