June 14, 2021

Access Financial Services Limited (AFS) for the year ended March 31, 2021 reported $1.53 billion in total interest income, an 11% decrease relative to the $1.70 billion recorded in 2020. Of this, Interest Income from Loans amounted to $1.52 billion (2020: $1.70 billion) while Interest Income from Securities totalled $6.01 million (2020: $1.37 million).

Interest Expense for the year ended March 31, 2021 totalled $256.83 million, a 1% increase compared with the $253.59 million booked in 2020. This resulted in AFS booking a Net Interest Income of $1.27 billion for the period, 12% less than the $1.45 billion in 2020. For the quarter, Net Interest Income totalled $329.72 million, a 3% decrease relative to the $341.25 million recorded in 2020.

Net Fees and Commission Income for the period under review amounted to $412.55 million, a 33% decrease from the $617.75 million in 2020.

AFS booked a total of $1.68 billion for Net Trading Income, a 19% increase compared with the $2.07 billion in 2020. For the quarter, a net trading income of $421.41 million was recorded (2020: $435.81 million).

For the year ended March 31, 2021, AFS reported income from Money Services and Other Income of $935,000 (2020: $1.79 million) and $149.32 million (2020: $91.20 million) respectively. Foreign Exchange Loss amounted to $12.85 million relative to a loss of $5.48 million booked in 2020. As such, Other Operating Income for the year totalled $137.41 million compared with $87.51 million in 2020.

AFS reported Operating Expenses of $1.48 billion (2020: $1.76 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2021. Of this:

• Staff Costs totalled $670.51 million (2020: $725.44 million).
• Allowance for Credit Losses amounted to $294.99 million (2020: $297.05 million).
• Depreciation & Amortization amounted to $118.35 million (2020: $118.12 million).
• Other Operating Expenses booked for the period totalled $393.90 million (2020: $618.55 million).

AFS reported a Profit before Taxation of $341.31 million for the year relative to $395.53 million recorded in 2020. Following a taxation amount of $75.62 million (2020: $65.78 million), AFS booked Profit for the year of $265.69 million, a 19% decline relative to the $329.75 million recorded for the comparable period in 2020. According to the company, “These results reflect the direct impact of COVID-19 over the past 12 months, which resulted in a decline in disbursements year over year in line with the reduction in global economic activity.” For the quarter, net profit amounted to $137.84 million, relative to a loss of $38.76 million recorded in 2020.

It was noted, “Disbursements for Access (the company) declined significantly during the first quarter of the financial year, however it has shown steady improvement since July 2020 as the Government of Jamaica revised the COVID-19 protocols across the country. This has resulted in increased economic activities and consumer confidence. Embassy Loans Inc., our wholly owned subsidiary in Florida, USA, recorded lower disbursements as the stimulus packages granted by the United States Government resulted in lower demand for loans from customers.”

Total Comprehensive Income for the period amounted to $343.49 million (2020: $408.05 million).

Consequently, earnings per share for the year amounted to $0.97 (2020: $1.20), while earnings per share for the quarter amounted to $0.50 relative to a loss per share of $0.14 for fourth quarter of 2020. The number of shares used in this calculation was 274,509,840 units. AFS’s stock price closed the trading period on June 14, 2021 at $22.38 with a corresponding P/E of 23.12 times.

The company highlighted that, “in light of the impact of the pandemic on our operations, the Group has pivoted to utilize more electronic channels to do business with our customers for loan applications and disbursements, and re-examined our operating structure to provide these services.”

Balance Sheet Highlights:

As at March 31, 2021, the company’s assets totalled $5.49 billion, down 8% from $5.96 billion in 2020. This decrease was largely attributable to ‘Loans and Advances’ which amounted to approximately $4.09 billion, $384.25 million less than the $4.47 billion in 2020.

Shareholder’s equity as at March 31, 2021 stood at $2.45 billion (2020: $2.17 billion) resulting in book value per share of approximately $8.93 (2020: $7.91).

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