August 2020 business update

RNS Number : 0990Z
ASA International Group PLC
16 September 2020
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 2020 business update and revised date for interim results

 

Amsterdam, 16 September 2020 - ASA International, ("ASA International", the "Company" or the "Group"), one of the world's largest international microfinance institutions, today provides the following update of the impact of COVID-19 on its business operations during the month of August 2020.

· The immediate health impact of COVID-19 on the Company's operations remains low.

· Liquidity continues to remain high with approximately USD 105m of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents across the Group on 31 August 2020.

· The pipeline of funding deals under negotiation totals approximately USD 220m.

· Collection efficiency remained in the mid to high nineties in eight operating countries, which in the aggregate represented more than 70% of the pre-tax profitability of all the Group's country operations in 2019.

· Disbursements as percentage of collections in August exceed 100% in most countries with the exception of India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Uganda and Rwanda.

· As a result, the number of clients and OLP stabilized and started to gradually increase in many operating countries.

· The aggregate Moratorium amounts to USD 40.7m, which represents 10% of the Group's outstanding loan portfolio ("OLP") and is primarily concentrated in India (37% of the aggregate Moratorium), the Philippines (28%), Kenya (12%) and Uganda (11%).

· Company to provide a better assessment of the quality of the Group's loan portfolio and any proposed ECL provision to reflect the impact of COVID-19.

 

Health impact of COVID-19 on our communities

 

· As of 31 August 2020, the immediate health impact of COVID-19 on the Company's operations remain s low with 28 of our 12,535 staff members confirmed as infected , but with no deaths . The number of confirmed infections amongst our 2.3m clients increased from 176 at end of July to 303 as at 30 August 2020, resulting in 17 deaths until now .

· While the infection rate in our operating countries continues to increase , t he speed of growth and the absolute number of confirmed infections and , in particular,   the number of deaths remain low in comparison to Europe, USA and Latin America. This is illustrated by the relatively few deaths in each of our operating countries as percentage of the size of the population which ranges between zero to 47 deaths per million population in our operating countries compared to 363 to 846 deaths per million in the U.S.A., Mexico, Brazil and the wealthiest European countries.

 

Funding

· Unrestricted cash and cash equivalents remain high at approximately USD 105m on 28 August 2020.

· The Company secured approximately USD 2m of new loans from local and international lenders in August 2020.

· About 72% of the Company's USD 220m pipeline of future wholesale loans are supported by (agreed) term sheets and/or draft loan documentation. The terms and conditions of the remaining 28% are being negotiated with lenders.

 

Collection efficiency until 29 August 2020   (1)

 

Country

7 June -13 June

14 June -20 June

21 June -27 June

28 June -4 July

5 July-11 July

12 July-18 July

19 July-25 July

26 July-31 July

01 Aug-07 Aug

08 Aug-14 Aug

15 Aug-22 Aug

23 Aug-29 Aug

India

37%

40%

47%

50%

53%

49%

41%

37%

41%

49%

53%

58%

Pakistan

95%

92%

94%

95%

97%

96%

96%

95%

96%

96%

96%

94%

Sri Lanka

66%

93% (2)

91%

95%

91%

90%

93%

94%

93%

92%

95%

95%

Myanmar

95%

95%

97%

95%

96%

96%

97%

97%

96%

96%

97%

97%

The Philippines

64%

66%

69%

74%

71%

72%

73%

74%

70%

65%

65%

67%

Ghana

99%

100%

100%

100%

99%

99%

99%

101%

101%

100%

99%

99%

Nigeria

93%

94%

94%

95%

91%

91%

89%

94%

90%

94%

90%

90%

Sierra Leone

94%

95%

98%

101%

97%

95%

100%

102%

94%

96%

96%

97%

Kenya

71%

76%

88%

88%

78%

73%

72%

75%

69%

73%

70%

74%

Tanzania

98%

98%

98%

99%

99%

99%

99%

99%

100%

98%

98%

98%

Uganda

22%

33%

40%

41%

46%

44%

47%

53%

57%

63%

63%

63%

Rwanda

77%

79%

83%

82%

84%

82%

88%

89%

88%

89%

86%

82%

Zambia

98%

98%

98%

99%

98%

98.4%

99%

99%

99%

99%

99%

99%

 

(1) Collection efficiency refers to actual collections from clients divided by expected collections for the period; since any moratorium on the repayment of loans are only granted to clients after the end of the month, the collection efficiency is not affected by the grant of such moratorium;

(2) Sri Lanka improved due to a write-off of overdue loans caused by the Government imposed debt relief program and Easter Sunday Bombings

 

· Collection efficiency across the Group remained in the mid to high nineties in 8 out of 13 operating countries.

· In India collection efficiency gradually increased to 58% prior to the end of the government-imposed moratorium, and further increased to 78%, excluding any overdue collection, during the first two weeks in September.

· Due to increased infection rates and the associated disruption in the Philippines, collection efficiency reduced by approximately 5% to 67%.

· Kenya was not able to substantially improve collection efficiency yet, keeping it relatively steady at 69-74%.

· Uganda succeeded in substantially improving its collection efficiency from 41-53% in July to 57-63% in August.

 

Disbursements vs collections of loans until 29 August 2020 (3)

 

·

Country

7 June-13 June

14 June-20 June

21 June-27 June

28 June-4 July

5 July-11 July

12 July-18 July

19 July-25 July

26 July-31 July (4)

01 Aug-07 Aug

08 Aug-14 Aug

15 Aug-22 Aug

23 Aug-29 Aug

India

Nil

1%

8%

12%

25%

37%

74%

61%

54%

70%

78%

74%

Pakistan

60%

60%

60%

68%

79%

82%

87%

88%

72%

85%

90%

91%

Sri Lanka

12%

43%

52%

27%

101%

57%

40%

71%

8%

74%

128%

145%

Myanmar

61%

68%

71%

68%

76%

80%

95%

62%

73%

101%

114%

122%

The Philippines

19%

40%

61%

46%

80%

69%

70%

73%

57%

51%

70%

79%

Ghana

109%

105%

105%

128%

130%

107%

110%

116%

120%

120%

112%

117%

Nigeria

70%

82%

84%

78%

102%

103%

116%

86%

67%

96%

104%

104%

Sierra Leone

85%

91%

99%

66%

122%

101%

113%

93%

110%

131%

139%

97%

Kenya

63%

56%

67%

70%

74%

84%

67%

76%

85%

87%

99%

101%

Tanzania

52%

65%

70%

76%

83%

118%

123%

113%

104%

121%

116%

112%

Uganda

 

N/A

N/A

1%

15%

46%

51%

32%

42%

75%

78%

69%

Rwanda

106%

113%

101%

92%

98%

52%

98%

108%

88%

93%

79%

87%

Zambia

91%

113%

89%

68%

199%

160%

176%

157%

136%

184%

181%

188%

 

(3) Disbursements vs collections refers to actual loan disbursements made to clients divided by total loans collected from clients in the period; (4)   Slowdown of branch operations due to official EID holidays in latter part of this week.

 

Development of Clients and Outstanding Loan Portfolio

·

 

  Clients (in thousands)

Delta

 

  OLP (in USDm)

 

Delta

Countries

Dec/19

Jul/20

Aug/20

Dec - Aug

Jul - Aug

 

Dec/19

Jul/20

Aug/20

 

Dec - Aug USD

Dec - Aug CC

Jul - Aug USD

 

 

India

732

713

707

-3%

-1%

 

181.9

167.3

169.4

 

-7%

-4%

1%

 

 

Pakistan

439

405

397

-9%

-2%

 

62.5

54.0

52.8

 

-16%

-9%

-2%

 

 

Sri Lanka

63

54

56

-12%

2%

 

9.4

8.4

8.5

 

-9%

-7%

1%

 

 

Myanmar

152

136

136

-10%

0%

 

31.5

30.1

31.0

 

-2%

-11%

3%

 

 

The Philippines

340

297

284

-17%

-4%

 

52.7

46.5

45.0

 

-15%

-18%

-3%

 

 

Ghana

165

141

142

-14%

1%

 

41.6

35.7

37.6

 

-10%

-8%

5%

 

 

Nigeria

260

213

215

-17%

1%

 

32.7

23.8

23.5

 

-28%

-23%

-1%

 

 

Sierra Leone

34

30

31

-10%

2%

 

2.9

3.2

3.6

 

23%

23%

12%

 

 

Kenya

101

79

80

-21%

0%

 

17.6

11.9

12.0

 

-32%

-27%

1%

 

 

Tanzania

123

100

101

-18%

1%

 

20.5

16.1

17.5

 

-14%

-14%

9%

 

 

Uganda

101

93

90

-11%

-3%

 

10.4

8.5

8.1

 

-22%

-22%

-4%

 

 

Rwanda

21

19

19

-9%

-2%

 

3.0

2.7

2.7

 

-10%

-8%

-1%

 

 

Zambia

2

4

4

89%

6%

 

0.2

0.3

0.4

 

106%

185%

19%

 

 

Total

2,533

2,286

2,261

-11%

-1%

 

467

408

412

 

-13%

-10%

1%

 

 

 

 

Selected moratorium on loan repayments

·

 

Clients under moratorium

As % of

Countries

March

April

May

June

July

August

Total Clients

India

0

0

0

182,318

181,878

165,618

23%

Pakistan

0

0

0

0

0

0

0%

Sri Lanka

0

0

0

37,891

9,002

78

0%

Myanmar

2,307

2,101

35,056

12,394

7,876

15,308

11%

The Philippines

1,297

0

57,130

145,086

65,405

60,373

21%

Ghana

0

0

0

0

0

0

0%

Nigeria

0

0

4,042

10,523

9,763

0

0%

Sierra Leone

0

91

1,225

1,336

1,178

0

0%

Kenya

20,453

17,366

9,660

7,778

26,697

0

0%

Tanzania

0

194

5,323

4,162

0

0

0%

Uganda

8,269

0

0

75,360

59,563

49,897

55%

Rwanda

436

0

7,746

7,886

4,703

2,800

15%

Zambia

0

0

0

0

0

0

0%

Total

32,762

19,752

120,182

484,734

366,065

294,074

13.0%

 

 

 

Moratorium amounts (in USD thousands)

 

As %

As % of Total Moratorium

Countries

March

April

May

June

July

August

Total

of OLP

India

0

0

0

5,831

5,414

3,690

14,935

9%

37%

Pakistan

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0%

0%

Sri Lanka

0

0

0

1,150

247

2

1,399

16%

3%

Myanmar

40

42

700

332

242

391

1,747

6%

4%

The Philippines

16

0

929

6,262

2,115

1,996

11,318

25%

28%

Ghana

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0%

0%

Nigeria

0

0

135

459

425

0

1,019

4%

3%

Sierra Leone

0

1

11

20

21

0

52

1%

0%

Kenya

679

434

2,158

734

811

0

4,817

40%

12%

Tanzania

0

5

147

115

0

0

266

2%

1%

Uganda

77

0

0

1,728

1,562

1,176

4,543

56%

11%

Rwanda

5

0

163

221

126

76

590

22%

1%

Zambia

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0%

0%

Total

817

482

4,242

16,850

10,964

7,330

40,685

9.9%

100.0%

 

As of 31 August 2020, total moratorium on loan repayments granted to clients amounted to USD 40.7m, which represents 9.9% of the Group's OLP.

· The aggregate number of clients benefiting from a moratorium and the total amount of moratorium granted has gone down from 485K and USD 16.7m in June to 366K and USD 10.8m in July, and 294K and USD 7.3m in August. It is expected that this trend line will continue.

· Despite the increased disruption caused by COVID-19, the moratorium granted to clients in the Philippines went down in August from 65K clients and USD 2.1m by the end of July to 60K clients and USD 2.0m at the end of August.

· India's moratorium amounts to USD 14.9m, which represents 37% of the total moratorium amount and is artificially high, because the Indian Government allowed each client to opt for a moratorium at no additional (reputational) cost to the client until the end of August this year. However, following the end of the government-imposed moratorium by the end of August, collection efficiency has continued to increase during the August and the first weeks of September, which is expected to lead to the gradual collection of outstanding moratorium amounts as well.

 

Enquiries:

ASA International Group plc

Investor Relations     +31 6 2030 0139

Véronique Schyns       vschyns@asa-international.com

 

About ASA International Group plc

ASA International is one of the world's largest international microfinance institutions, with a strong commitment to financial inclusion and socioeconomic progress. The company provides small, socially responsible loans to low-income, financially underserved entrepreneurs, predominantly women, across South Asia, South East Asia, West and East Africa.

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