November 2, 2022

Access Financial Services Limited (AFS) for the six months ended September 30, 2022, reported $880.51 million in total interest income, a 9% increase relative to the $808.18 million recorded in 2021. Of this, Interest Income from Loans amounted to $876.28 million (2021: $807.50 million), while Interest Income from Securities totalled $4.22 million (2021: $681,000). Total interest income for the quarter closed at $446.31 million, up 7% compared to the $418.94 million reported for the second quarter of 2021.

Interest expense for the period totalled $128.61 million, a 14% increase compared to the $112.93 million booked in 2021. This resulted in AFS booking a net interest income of $751.90 million for the period, 8% greater than the $695.25 million booked in 2021.

Net fees and commission income for the period under review amounted to $212.82 million, an 8% increase from the $197.19 million in 2021. As a result, AFS booked a total of $964.72 million for net trading income, an 8% increase from the $892.44 million booked for the comparable period in 2021. Net trading income for the quarter improved 3% to close at $481.76 million (2021: $468.63 million).

AFS reported income from Money services fees and commission of $701,000 (2021: $520,000), and other income of $72.73 million (2021: $76.09 million). Foreign Exchange gains of $2.93 million was reported, a 58% increase relative to a gain of $1.86 million booked same time last year. As such, other operating income for the period totalled $76.36 million compared with $78.47 million recorded in 2021.

Net operating income closed at $1.04 billion (2021: $970.90 million), while for the quarter, net operating income closed at $518.19 million (2021: $507.15 million). Management noted that, “The growth in operating income is attributable to a 9% increase in interest income in line with the growth of the portfolio, increases in fees and commission income.”

AFS reported a 14% increase in operating expenses for the period of $830.67 million (2021: $730.20 million). AFS highlighted that this increase is, “due mainly to increases in staff costs, non-recurring debt refinancing expenses, and loans written off.” Of this:

• Staff costs totalled $372.09 million (2021: $344.44 million)
• Allowance for credit losses amounted to $120.85 million (2021: $121.28 million).
• Depreciation & amortization amounted to $55.81 million (2021: $60.96 million)
• Marketing expenses totalled $13.68 million (2021: $16.61 million)
• Other operating expenses increased 44% to $268.24 million (2021: $186.91 million).

AFS reported profit before taxation of $210.42 million for the period relative to $240.70 million recorded in 2021. Following a taxation amount of $77.40 million (2021: $61.10 million), AFS booked a profit for the period of $133.02 million, a 26% decrease relative to the $179.61 million recorded for the comparable period in 2021. For the quarter, net profit amounted to $55.46 million (2021: $90.25 million).

However, total comprehensive income declined to $124.88 million from $188.75 million booked same time last year.

Consequently, earnings per share (EPS) for the period amounted to $0.48 (2021: $0.65), while for the quarter the EPS was $0.20 (2021: 0.33). The trailing twelve months earnings per share amounted to $1.43. The total number of shares used in the calculations amounted to 274,509,840 units. Additionally, AFS’s stock price closed at $27.00 as at the end of trading on November 1, 2022, with a corresponding P/E of 18.94 times.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

As at September 30, 2022, the company’s assets totalled $6.31 billion, up 11% from $5.68 billion in 2021. The improvement in the asset based was due to a 9% increase in ‘Loans and Advances’, which amounted to $4.76 billion relative to $4.38 billion recorded in 2021. The overall movement was further attributed to an increase in ‘Cash and Cash Equivalents’ which increased by 83% to $728.20 million compared to $397.28 million in 2021.

Shareholder’s equity as at September 30, 2022 stood at $2.81 billion (2021: $2.56 billion) resulting in book value per share of approximately $10.25 (2021: $9.32).

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