May 12--Lincoln student loan company Nelnet Inc. said Tuesday that it is improving its financial picture and earned $25.5 million, or 52 cents per share, in the first three months of 2009.

That compared with a year-ago loss of $69.8 million, or $1.42 per share.

Mike Dunlap, chairman and CEO, said the company is becoming focused on providing education-related processing services for fees and diversifying its business. Earlier, most of its revenue had come from making student loans.

The company is improving its liquidity and reducing debt, Dunlap said. Nelnet's stock price gained as much as 26 percent in early trading Tueday from its Monday closing price of $6.50 per share.

The year-ago loss was mainly from losses from the sale of loans and write-downs in the value of derivatives and foreign currency investments, Nelnet said. Those items cut the company's revenue by a total of $104.8 million in the first quarter of 2008.

Net interest income -- the difference between interest received on loans and the cost of money -- totaled $21 million, up from $11.5 million in the first quarter of 2008 but down from $31.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Nelnet also reported "base net income," which excludes costs for discontinued operations and other expenses, of $31.5 million, or 64 cents per share, in the latest quarter, compared with $15.3 million, or 31 cents per share, a year earlier.

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