Access Financial Services Limited (AFS) for the six months ended September 30, 2017 reported $658.40 million (2016: $622.19 million) in total interest income. Of this Interest Income from Loans amounted to $651.88 million (2016: $618.73 million) while Interest Income from Securities totaled $6.52 million (2016: $3.47 million).

Interest Expense charged for the period totaled $57.06 million relative to $55.14 million in 2016. As such,  AFS booked a Net Interest Income of $601.34 million (2016: $567.06 million) for the six months period ended September 30, 2016.

Net Fees and Commission Income for the period under review amounted to $197.32 million (2016: $71.90 million), while AFS reported $798.66 million (2016: $638.96 million) for Net Trading Income.

AFS reported income from Money Services and Other Income of $844,000 (2016: $1.19 million) and $31.71 million (2016: $34.77 million) respectively. Notably the company reported Foreign Exchange gains amounted to $8.64 million compared to $12.66 million in 2016. Consequently Total Other Operating Income for the period amounted to $41.20 million (2016: $48.62 million).

AFS recorded Operating Expenses of $460.05 million, a decline of 49% compared to $309.55 million in 2016. Management noted, “This increase resulted from an increase in staff cost and operating expenses relating to the new acquisitions, an increase in Allowances for credit losses in the current period offset by a positive adjustment in 2016 resulting in a decline in Total operating cost.” Of this:

• Staff Costs increased 31% to $177.98 million (2016: $135.86 million).
• Allowance for Credit Losses amounted to $122.83 million, a growth of 231% compared to $37.13 million booked for the prior year’s corresponding period.
• Depreciation & Amortization and Other Operating Expenses booked for the period totaled $13.09 million (2016: $10.91 million) and $134.30 million (2016: $114.52 million) respectively.

AFS reported a Profit Before Taxation of $379.81 million relative to $378.02 million in 2016. AFS booked a Profit of $346.37 million (2016: $352.68 million), after tax charges of $33.44 million (2016: $25.34 million). Net profit for the quarter amounted to $157.90 million compared to $207.05 million booked for the comparable quarter of 2016.

Consequently earnings per share for the period amounted to $1.26 compared to $1.28 for the corresponding period in 2016. The EPS for the quarter amounted to $0.58 compared to $0.75 in the prior year. The trailing twelve months EPS is $2.45. The number of shares used in this calculation was 274,509,840 units.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

As at September 30, 2017, the company’s assets totaled $3.28 billion versus $2.77 billion in 2016. Loans and Advances contributed the most to total asset. Loans and Advances amounted to approximately $2.68 billion relative to $2.42 billion for the prior year’s corresponding period. This was due to, “the net loan portfolio which continues to show growth.” Cash and Cash Equivalents also contributed to the increase with a 87% increase to close at $465.35 million (2016: $249.33 million). AFS noted, “

Shareholder’s equity as at September 30, 2017 stood at $1.91 billion (2016: $1.48 million) resulting in book value per share of approximately $6.97 (2016: $5.40).