We continue to see retention rates of over 90% without our employee benefits business and for many of our other businesses within our benefits and insurance group.
With revenue up by 18.6% in the third quarter, and up by 14.5% for the nine months, demand for our core services continues to be stable and strong.
Same unit revenue for the third quarter grew by 8.3% compared with last year.
And for the nine months, same unit revenue grew by 7.3% compared with last year.
In the third quarter, total revenue in the Financial Services group grew by 20.4%.
And for the nine months, revenue grew by 16%.
Same unit revenue in the Financial Services group was up by 9.2% in the third quarter.
And for the nine months, same unit revenue was up by 8.7%.
Within our benefits and insurance group, total revenue grew by 16.1% in the third quarter.
And for the nine months, total revenue grew by 12.4%.
Same unit revenue within benefits and insurance grew by 6.6% in the third quarter.
And for the nine months, same unit revenue grew by 4.4%.
These newly acquired operations contributed 10.3% to total revenue growth in the third quarter and contributed 7.3% to total revenue growth for the nine months.
As we presented second quarter earnings earlier this year, we made an adjustment to eliminate the impact of the $30.5 million nonrecurring UPMC settlement that was announced on June 30, plus an adjustment to eliminate the impact of the $6.4 million nonrecurring gain on sale from a divestiture that occurred in the second quarter.
On an adjusted basis, for the nine months, adjusted earnings per share was $1.84 compared with $1.41 a year earlier.
This is up 30.5%.
In the third quarter, earnings per share was $0.41 compared with $0.36 a year ago.
As a result, margin on income before tax declined in the third quarter from 11.4% a year ago to 10.3% this year.
On an adjusted basis, eliminating the nonrecurring items I mentioned, we are very pleased that margin on income before tax for the nine months has improved by 120 basis points, up to 15.2% versus 14% a year ago.
To date this year, we have closed five acquisition transactions that will contribute approximately $72 million of annualized revenue.
Through September 30, we have used $74.8 million for acquisition purposes, including earn-out payments on acquisitions closed in prior years.
Future earn-out payments are estimated at approximately $6.6 million for the balance of this year, $26.7 million in 2022, $19.3 million in 2023, $22.9 million in 2024 and approximately $6 million in 2025.
Through September 30, we utilized approximately $85 million to repurchase 2.7 million shares.
And since that time, through October 26, we have repurchased an additional 258,000 shares.
As a result of these share repurchases, we expect full year share count within a range of 53.5 million to 54 million shares.
At September 30, debt outstanding on our unsecured $400 million credit line was $190.2 million with $201.6 million of unused capacity.
Leverage under the credit facility was 1.2 times adjusted EBITDA at September 30.
As a reflection of cash flow, adjusted EBITDA for the nine months this year was $153.5 million, up 21% from $126.9 million a year ago.
Focused primarily on facility and office improvements, capital spending through September 30 was $6.5 million, with $3.2 million spent in the third quarter.
Full year spending may come in between $8 million to $10 million.
Day sales outstanding on receivables was 88 days at September 30, and this continues to reflect improvements that were gained over the past 12 to 18 months.
Bad debt expense through September 30 this year was approximately 10 basis points of revenue compared with 41 basis points a year ago.
Our effective tax rate for nine months was approximately 24.5%.
There are a number of unpredictable factors that can impact the tax rate either up or down, but we expect the effective rate for the full year within a range of 24% to 24.5%.
With revenue up 14.5% and adjusted earnings per share up 30.5%, the health of our business is very strong.
As we consider the unique items described above that are projected to impact the balance of the year-over-year comparisons, our expectations for the full year are as follows: Total revenue growth in 2021 is expected within a range of 12% to 15% over 2020.
Adjusted earnings-per-share growth is expected within a range of 20% to 24% over the $1.42 earnings per share recorded in 2020.
We expect a full year weighted average share count within a range of 53.5 million to 54 million shares.
And unpredictable factors can impact the tax rate either up or down, but we expect a full year effective tax rate within a range of 24% to 24.5%.

Summary:
With revenue up by 18.6% in the third quarter, and up by 14.5% for the nine months, demand for our core services continues to be stable and strong.
Same unit revenue for the third quarter grew by 8.3% compared with last year.
In the third quarter, earnings per share was $0.41 compared with $0.36 a year ago.
To date this year, we have closed five acquisition transactions that will contribute approximately $72 million of annualized revenue.
As we consider the unique items described above that are projected to impact the balance of the year-over-year comparisons, our expectations for the full year are as follows: Total revenue growth in 2021 is expected within a range of 12% to 15% over 2020.
Adjusted earnings-per-share growth is expected within a range of 20% to 24% over the $1.42 earnings per share recorded in 2020.