November 2, 2021

For the six months ended September 30, 2021:

Access Financial Services Limited (AFS) for the six months ended September 30, 2021, reported $808.18 million in total interest income, an 8% increase relative to the $747.42 million recorded in 2020. Of this, Interest Income from loans amounted to $807.50 million (2020: $742.99 million), while Interest Income from Securities totalled $681,000 (2020: $4.43 million). Total interest income for the quarter closed at $418.94 million, up 13% compared to the $370.71 million reported for the second quarter of 2020.

Interest expense for the period totalled $112.93 million, a 17% decrease compared to the $135.58 million booked in 2020. This resulted in AFS booking a net interest income of $695.25 million for the period, 14% greater than the $611.83 million booked in 2020.
Net fees and commission income for the period under review amounted to $197.19 million, a 7% drop from the $212.42 million in 2020. As a result, AFS booked a total of $892.44 million for net trading income, an 8% increase from the $824.25 million booked for the comparable period in 2020. Net trading income for the quarter improved 13% to close at $468.63 million (2020: $413.72 million).

AFS reported income from Money services fees and commission of $520,000 (2020: $340,000), and other income of $76.09 million (2020: $75.22 million). Foreign Exchange gains of $1.86 million was reported relative to a loss of $12.36 million booked same time last year. As such, other operating income for the period totalled $78.47 million compared with $63.21 million recorded in 2020.

AFS reported an 9% increase in operating expenses for the period of $970.90 million (2020: $887.46 million). Of this:

o Staff costs totalled $344.44 million (2020: $347.64 million)
o Allowance for credit losses amounted to $121.28 million (2020: $178.32 million).
o Depreciation & amortization amounted to $30.96 million (2020: $59.38 million)
o Marketing expenses totalled $16.61 million (2020: $22.10 million)
o Other operating expenses fell 5% to $186.91 million (2020: $197.66 million).

AFS reported profit before taxation of $240.70 million for the period relative to $82.36 million recorded in 2020. Following a taxation amount of $61.10 million (2020: $20.81 million), AFS booked a profit for the period of $179.61 million, a 192% increase relative to the $61.55 million recorded for the comparable period in 2020. According to AFS stated, “these results reflect an improvement in the operating environment as economic activity continue to increase following the relaxation of the COVID-19 containment measures.”However, total comprehensive income improved to $188.75 million from $116.45 million booked same time last year.

Consequently, earnings per share (EPS) for the period amounted to $0.65 (2020: $0.22), while for the quarter the EPS was $0.33 (2020: 0.10). The trailing twelve months earnings per share amounted to $1.40. The total number of shares used in the calculations amounted to 274,509,840 units. Additionally, AFS’s stock price closed at $19.55 as at the end of trading on November 2, 2021, with a corresponding P/E of 13.98 times.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

As at September 30, 2021, the company’s assets totalled $5.68 billion, up 4% from $5.47 billion in 2020. The improvement in the asset based was due to a 13% increase in ‘Loans and Advances’, which amounted to $4.38 billion relative to $3.89 billion recorded in 2020. The overall movement however tempered by a decline in ‘Cash and Cash Equivalents’ which declined 42% to $397.28 million compared to $683.10 million in 2020.

Shareholder’s equity as at September, 2021 stood at $2.56 billion (2020: $2.27 billion) resulting in book value per share of approximately $9.32 (2020: $8.28).

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