Altisource announces unaudited preliminary earnings guidance for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2014. For the fourth quarter 2014, the company expects service revenue of between $215 million and $225 million is lower than third quarter 2014 service revenue of $248 million, and pretax income attributable to the company is between 0 and $4 million. The decline in service revenue from the third quarter of 2014, primarily relates to the November 2014 discontinuation of the lender-placed insurance brokerage business and the seasonal slowdown in the property inspection and preservation business. Adding back amortization of intangible assets, adjusted pretax income attributable to company in the fourth quarter of 2014 is between $9 million and $13 million. Pretax income has been impacted by a few key factors. Compared to the third quarter of 2014, the decline in pretax income is from lower service revenue, $8 million of higher cost in technology services segment, in part related to initiatives that experienced accelerated spending during the fourth quarter of 2014; and $11 million of higher bad debt expense, primarily in default management business.

For the first quarter of 2015, pretax income will be lower than the average for the year due to the timing of the expense savings and the realignment cost.

For the year 2015, service revenue would be $870 million. The average 2015 pretax income of Scenario A and Scenario B would be $96 million, and adjusted diluted earnings per share would be $6.18. The company estimates that Net debt at the end of 2015 will be approximately $350 million.