July 3, 2020

ISP Finance Services Limited (ISP) for the three months ended March 31, 2020, reported total interest income of $85.65 million compared to $86.23 million booked in 2019, a decrease of 1%. Interest expense which totalled $6.91 million relative to $7.59 million in 2019; this represents a 9% decline. As a result, net interest income grew less than 1% to total $78.74 million (2019: $78.64 million) for the three months ended March 2020.

Commission expenses on loans went up 259% to $2.50 million (2019: $695,652). Gross profit for the quarter amounted to $76.25 million, 2% less than the $77.94 million in 2019.

Other income surge to $214,527 when compared to $650 booked the same period last year and foreign exchange loss for the period under review stood at $97,313 (2019: nil).

The company’s total operating expense amounted to $65.83 million, up 6% from $61.96 million in 2019. ISP highlighted that, “the Company maintained its cost of operations while meeting greater customer demands. The newly established customer sales contact center is our focus as this will result in the development of new products and markets across several delivery channels.” The expenses for the period are broken down as follows:

• Staff costs amounted to $32.57 million (2019: $31.73 million).
• Allowance for credit losses totalled $8.90 million (2019: $8 million).
• Depreciation was $1.30 million (2019: $1.31 million).
• Other operating expenses amounted to $23.05 million (2019: $20.92 million).

Profit before taxes totalled $10.54 million (2019: $15.99 million).  No taxes were booked for the period, resulting in a net profit of $10.54 million relative $15.99 million for the first quarter of 2019, a 34% reduction year over year. Moreover, comprehensive income totalled $10.54 million (2019: $15.99 million).

As a result, EPS for the quarter closed at $0.10 (2019: EPS $0.15). The trailing twelve months EPS amounted to $0.17. The number of shares used in our calculations is 105,000,000 units. Notably, ISP closed the trading period on July 02, 2020 at a price of $12.00.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

As at March 31, 2020, ISP reported total assets of $684.21 million, a 6% increase when compared to $643.80 million in the prior year. ‘Loans net of provisions for credit losses’ was the main contributor to this increase closing the period at $616.81 million (2019: $571.73 million), reflecting a $45.08 million increase.

Shareholders’ Equity as at March 31, 2020 was $354.22 million compared to a $336.38 million in 2019. This resulted in a book value per share of $3.37 compared to $3.20 the prior year.