Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct an error stating that Prospect's net investment income had risen by 30%. The Fool regrets the error.
In reporting its results for the third quarter of fiscal 2014 on Tuesday, Prospect Capital (PSEC -0.18%) saw its net investment income increase from $0.26 per share in the third quarter of last year to $0.31 per share in the most recent quarter, a 19% gain. Meanwhile, net investment income at the business development company increased by 65% to $98.5 million. However, its common shares outstanding have risen by approximately 35% over the past year. That's why EPS was up, but not as significantly as the total dollar amount.
Total assets at Prospect Capital have risen from $4.5 billion through the end of March 2013 to $6.4 billion at the end of the most recent quarter, a 43% gain. It made 18 new and follow-on investments for a total of more than $1.3 billion in the most recent quarter, a record total.
Included in those originations were a $277.5 debt facility for Instant Web, which provides direct marketers with direct marketing solutions, and a $246 million cash investment in Harbortouch Payments, which provides point-of-sale equipment merchants use to process transactions.
The company said that it "closed approximately 65% of our March 2014 quarter originations during the last two business days of the quarter," and as a result, "we did not realize the full economic benefit possible from such investments during the quarter." The company continued: "However, we expect to generate full-quarter interest benefits in the June 2014 quarter from these investments."
