February 8, 2018. 

Access Financial Services Limited (AFS) for the nine months ended December 31, 2017 reported total interest income of $1.04 billion, a 11% increase when compared with the $935.04 million reported for the same time period  in 2016. Of this, Interest Income from Loans amounted to $1.03 billion (2016: $930.52 million) while Interest Income from Securities totalled $9.05 million, a vast increase from the $4.5 million reported in 2016. Total interest expense reported for the quarter was $378.5 million, a 21% increase when compared to the $312.84 million reported in the same quarter for 2016.

Interest Expense charged for the nine month period totalled $85.41 million relative to $79.1 million in 2016. As such, AFS booked a Net Interest Income of $951.50 million, an 11% increase relative to the $855.93 million reported for the same period in 2016.

Net Fees and Commission Income for the period under review amounted to $270.25 million, a 91% increase when compared to the $141.24 million reported for the comparative period in 2016. AFS reported $1.22 billion (2016: $997.17 million) for Net Trading Income.

AFS reported a large decline in income from both Money Services and Other Income of $986,000 (2016: $1.73 million) and $312,000 (2016: $52.49 million) respectively. Notably, the company reported Foreign Exchange gains of $35.05 million, a 139% increase when compared to $14.66 million in 2016. Consequently, total other operating income for the period amounted to $36.35 million, a 47% decline relative to the $68.88 reported for the same period in 2016.

AFS recorded total operating expenses of $698.44 million, an increase of 33% compared to $526.15 million in 2016. Management noted, “This resulted primarily from increased staff cost associated with the acquisition of Micro Credit Limited (MCL) and an increase in allowance for credit losses.” ‘Staff Costs’ increased 42% to $277.14 million (2016: $195.85 million) and ‘Allowance for Credit Losses’ amounted to $185.78 million, a vast increase of 99% compared to $93.57 million booked for the prior year’s corresponding period. ‘Depreciation & Amortization’ and ‘Other Operating Expenses’ booked for the period totalled $20.28 million (2016: $18.16 million) and $199.4 million (2016: $198.75 million) respectively.

AFS reported a profit before taxation of $559.66 million relative to $539.87 million in 2016. AFS booked a profit for the period of $504.85 million (2016: $494.23 million), after tax charges of $54.81 million (2016: $45.67 million). Net profit for the quarter amounted to $158.49 million compared to $141.55 million booked for the comparable quarter of 2016.

Consequently earnings per share for the period amounted to $1.84 compared to $1.80 for the corresponding period in 2016. The EPS for the quarter amounted to $0.58 compared to $0.52 in the prior year. The trailing twelve months EPS is $2.51. The number of shares used in this calculation was 274,509,840 units.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

As at December 31, 2017, the company’s assets totalled $3.43 billion versus $2.96 billion in 2016. Loans and Advances contributed the most to total assets. Loans and Advances amounted to approximately $2.87 billion relative to $2.65 billion for the prior year’s corresponding period. This was due to, “the net loan portfolio which continues to show growth  with an increase of $211 million or 8% for the period moving to $2.87 billion from $2.76 billion for the corresponding 2016 period.”

Shareholder’s equity as at December 31, 2017 stood at $2.02 billion (2016: $1.57 million) resulting in book value per share of approximately $7.37 (2016: $5.73).