ISP Finance Services Limited’s (ISP) for the year ended December 31, 2020 reported total interest income of $372.68 million compared to $367.20 million in 2019, a marginal increase of 1%. For the quarter, total interest income amounted to $109.06 million (2019: $91.35 million). Total income is broken down as follows:

• Interest income from loans grew 1% to total $369.11 million relative to $367.07 million in the same period of 2019.  
• Interest income receivables increased to $3.57 million (2019: $129,852). 

 Interest expense totaled $29.58 million relative to $31.51 million in 2019; this represents a 6% decrease. As a result, net interest income grew by 1% to total $343.09 million (2019: $335.69 million). Net interest income for the quarter amounted to $101.70 million (2019: $82.21 million). 

  Commission expense rose 132% to $6.29 million (2019: $2.72 million). In addition, foreign exchange loss totaled $71,347, compared to foreign exchange gain of $46,428 reported in the prior year. 

  As such, gross profit amounted to $337.71 million in 2020, a 1% rise relative to that of $333.09 million a year prior. For the quarter, gross profit rose 24% to $100.63 million (2019: $81.27 million). 

  The company’s total operating expenses amounted to $271.60 million, down 12% from $309.98 million in 2019, while for the quarter operating expense closed at $85.27 million (2019: $98.69 million). ISP highlighted that, “The Company has maintained its cost of operations while meeting greater customer demands. While additional expenses were incurred in setting up a cloud operating platform, the investment has supported our business development and collections functions.” 

  The expenses for the period are broken down as follows: 

•   Staff costs amounted to $99.33 million (2019: $122.06 million). 
•   Allowance for credit loss totaled $66.23 million (2019 $87.64 million). 
•   Depreciation was $5.31 million (2019: $5.22 million). 
•   Other operating expenses amounted to $100.73 million (2019: $95.07 million). 

  Profit before taxes totaled $66.11 million (2019: $23.12 million). A tax charge of $720,871 were reported for the year (2019: $180,081). Consequently, net profit for the period amounted to $65.39 million relative to $22.94 million in 2019, a 185% increase. Net profit for the quarter amounted to $14.64 million relative to a net loss of $17.42 million. ISP noted that, “The increase in profits was attributable to operating efficiencies and increase productivity from new work-from-home systems. While the economy continues to be affected by the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been able to respond to our customers loan needs.” 

Total comprehensive income for the period under review closed at $65.39 million (2019: $22.94 million).  

 As a result, EPS for the period closed at $0.62 (2019: $0.22). The EPS for the quarter was $0.14 (2019 LPS: $0.17). The number of shares used in our calculations is 105,000,000 units. Notably, ISP closed the trading period on March 31, 2021 at a price of $23.80 with a corresponding P/E ratio of 38.22 times. 

  Balance Sheet Highlights:  

  As at December 31, 2020, ISP reported total assets of $748.43 million, a 12% increase when compared to $683.20 million in the prior year. ‘Cash and Cash Equivalents’ and ‘Loans net of provisions for credit losses’ contributed to this increase closing the period at $32.41 million (2019: $22.81 million) and $675.13 million (2019: $627.26 million), respectively. 

  Shareholders’ Equity as at December 31, 2020 was $408.73 million compared to $342.33 million in 2019. This resulted in a book value per share of $3.89 compared to $3.27 the prior year.