TIDMASAI
RNS Number : 0969M
ASA International Group PLC
19 January 2021
ASA International Group plc December 2020 business update
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 19 January 2021 - 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 as at 31 December 2020.
-- Liquidity continues to remain high with approximately USD
101m of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents across the Group on
31 December 2020.
-- The pipeline of funding deals under negotiation totalled approximately USD 225m.
-- With the exception of India, the Philippines and Uganda, all
other operating countries achieved collection efficiency of more
than 90% in December.
-- India increased collections by 5% to 82% by year-end 2020,
but collections may be adversely affected in early 2021 due to
local Government proposed regulatory changes in Assam, which
currently represents 16% of its loan portfolio.
-- The Philippines marginally improved collections to 76% by
mid-December and was required to grant a moratorium to 57.5K
clients for a total amount of USD 2.3m, primarily due to the
Government imposed 60-day grace period for the repayment of loans
by clients.
-- Uganda was not able to increase its collection efficiency in
December, primarily due to the unrest in the country ahead of the
scheduled Presidential elections and Christmas festivities.
-- Collections stopped in 56 branches based in Yangon and Bago
division in Myanmar, due to lockdowns instituted by the Government
in these regions until the end of December. In other regions of
Myanmar collections were close to 91%.
-- Disbursements as percentage of collections exceeded 100% in
many countries with the exception of India, Nigeria, Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
-- As a result, the number of clients and Gross OLP continued to
gradually increase reaching approximately 2.4m and USD 447m (5%
less than year-end 2019), respectively, across the Group.
-- The Moratoriums granted for December amounted to USD 6.5m and
were limited to the operations in the Philippines (60-day grace
period), Myanmar (lockdown Yangon and Bago Regions) and Sri Lanka
(various branches under curfew).
Health impact of COVID-19 on our communities
-- The immediate health impact of COVID-19 on the Company's
operations remain ed low with 97 of our over 12,500 staff members
confirmed as infected since March 2020 , but with no deaths . Since
March 2020, confirmed infections amongst our 2.4m clients increased
from 1,383 at end of November to 1,536 as at 31 December 2020,
resulting in 25 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Funding
-- Unrestricted cash and cash equivalents remain high at
approximately USD 101m at year-end 2020.
-- The Company secured approximately USD 14m of new loans from
local and international lenders in December 2020.
-- The majority of the Company's USD 225m pipeline of future
wholesale loans are supported by (agreed) term sheets and/or draft
loan documentation. The terms and conditions of the remaining loans
are being negotiated with lenders.
Collection efficiency until 31 December 2020 (1, 2, 3)
Country 30 Aug-05 06-12 13-19 20-30 01-15 16-31 01-15 16-30 01-15 16-30
Sep Sep Sep Sep Oct Oct Nov Nov Dec Dec
---------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
India 60% 68% 78% 74% 77% 76% 78% 77% 79% 82%
Pakistan 96% 96% 96% 97% 97% 97% 97% 97% 98% 96%
Sri Lanka 94% 91% 96% 99% 90% 83% 79% 94% 94% 96%
The Philippines 67% 68% 69% 74% 65% 68% 69% 75% 76% 59%
Myanmar 95% 93% 91% 78% 65% 75% 86% 88% 90% 91%
Nigeria 91% 91% 91% 93% 93% 94% 94% 95% 96% 97%
Ghana 99% 99% 99% 100% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Sierra Leone 94% 97% 96% 99% 99% 99% 94% 91% 96% 90%
Kenya 76% 76% 77% 81% 84% 91% 95% 90% 92% 97%
Tanzania 98% 98% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 100% 100% 99%
Uganda 65% 67% 72% 73% 72% 78% 82% 80% 83% 82%
Rwanda 85% 84% 88% 87% 86% 91% 93% 88% 90% 92%
Zambia 100% 100% 100% 100% 99% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100%
----------------- ---------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
(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) The definition of collection efficiency has been amended
in view of the increased amount of overdue collection and advance
payments in various countries to: the sum of actual regular
collections, actual overdue collections and actual advance payments
divided by the sum of expected regular collections, actual overdue
collections and actual advance payments. This also means that
collections efficiency no longer can exceed 100%.
(3) Collection efficiency in Myanmar excludes the branches
in Yangon and Bago Region, which were under strict lockdown
in November and December.
-- Collection efficiency across the Group increased in December
in all countries with the exception of the Philippines and Uganda,
which was partly caused by Christmas celebrations during the last
two weeks of December and unrest in Uganda ahead of the scheduled
Presidential elections.
-- Collections in India increased by 5% in December, but the
environment remains challenging with planned Government
intervention in Assam (approximately 16% of ASA India's loan
portfolio), which may adversely affect collections once
effective.
-- In the Philippines, the government imposed a 60-day grace
period for the repayment of loans until the end of December 2020
and the ongoing disruption caused by limited, regional lockdowns in
certain parts of the country continued to adversely affect
collections in December. In addition, the Philippines is also still
recovering from the three typhoons that hit its operations in Q4
2020.
-- Collections were not possible in Yangon and Bago divisions in
Myanmar due to the institution of a two-months lockdown which
started in November. In other regions of Myanmar collections were
close to 91%. Collections in Yangon and Bago divisions started
again in January.
-- Kenya significantly improved collections reaching 97% by the of December 2020.
Disbursements vs collections of loans until 31 December 2020
(4)
Country 30 Aug-05 06-12 13-19 20-30 01-15 16-31 01-15 16-30 01-15 16-30
Sep Sep Sep Sep Oct Oct Nov Nov Dec Dec
---------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
India 75% 79% 78% 91% 91% 68% 81% 72% 79% 81%
Pakistan 95% 89% 93% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 108%
Sri Lanka 64% 118% 122% 144% 17% 135% 45% 89% 108% 148%
The Philippines 77% 80% 90% 111% 74% 96% 55% 107% 99% 108%
Myanmar 97% 104% 103% 63% 24% 44% 88% 132% 110% 150%
Nigeria 87% 115% 129% 139% 152% 136% 172% 162% 139% 61%
Ghana 113% 115% 123% 119% 116% 95% 118% 112% 129% 117%
Sierra Leone 105% 117% 115% 123% 123% 116% 100% 101% 113% 104%
Kenya 93% 95% 101% 108% 92% 103% 91% 110% 122% 98%
Tanzania 97% 107% 111% 119% 101% 106% 93% 90% 100% 75%
Uganda 65% 68% 69% 66% 88% 95% 95% 100% 113% 35%
Rwanda 81% 79% 84% 81% 83% 87% 102% 112% 122% 102%
Zambia 129% 178% 151% 85% 93% 86% 85% 109% 110% 73%
----------------- ---------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
(4) Disbursements vs collections refers to actual loan disbursements
made to clients divided by total loans collected from clients in
the period.
-- With the business environment continuing to improve in most
countries, disbursements of fresh loans continued to increase in
amount and as a percentage of weekly collections, with the
exception of India, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
This was primarily due to Christmas festivities in some countries
and Presidential elections in Uganda.
Development of Clients and Outstanding Loan Portfolio (5) until
31 December 2020
Clients (in Gross OLP (in
thousands) Delta USDm) Delta
Dec/19- Dec/19- Nov/20-
Dec/19- Nov/20- Dec/20 Dec/20 Dec/20
Countries Dec/19 Nov/20 Dec/20 Dec/20 Dec/20 Dec/19 Nov/20 Dec/20 USD CC USD
India 732 713 714 -2% 0% 183.0 165.6 167.1 -9% -7% 1%
Pakistan 439 416 421 -4% 1% 62.9 62.3 64.5 3% 6% 3%
Sri Lanka 63 55 56 -11% 1% 10.1 8.8 9.2 -9% -7% 5%
The
Philippines 340 292 299 -12% 2% 53.2 48.5 50.3 -5% -10% 4%
Myanmar 152 128 129 -15% 1% 31.7 30.1 30.7 -3% -13% 2%
Nigeria 260 253 253 -3% 0% 33.5 32.8 32.5 -3% 3% -1%
Ghana 165 158 158 -4% 0% 41.7 40.4 42.5 2% 5% 5%
Sierra Leone 34 37 36 5% -3% 2.9 4.5 4.3 45% 50% -5%
Kenya 101 90 92 -9% 2% 17.7 13.1 13.1 -26% -20% 0%
Tanzania 123 116 121 -2% 4% 20.5 21.1 21.6 5% 6% 2%
Uganda 101 82 81 -20% -1% 10.4 8.3 8.2 -22% -22% -2%
Rwanda 21 19 19 -7% 2% 3.0 2.7 3.0 -1% 3% 8%
Zambia 2 5 5 169% -1% 0.2 0.4 0.4 121% 231% 0%
Total 2,533 2,364 2,384 -6% 1% 471 439 447 -5% -4% 2%
(5) Gross loan portfolio including the off-book BC and DA model,
excluding interest receivable and before deducting ECL provisions
and modification loss.
-- With disbursements gradually increasing in many operating
countries , Gross OLP increased to USD 447m (up 2%) in December
2020 compared to the previous month and ended up 5% below year-end
2019 in USD.
Selected moratorium (6) on loan repayments until 31 December
2020
Clients under moratorium
As % of
Total
Countries Mar-Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Clients
India 182,318 181,878 165,618 0 0 0 0 0%
Pakistan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Sri Lanka 37,891 9,002 78 116 23,430 0 7,088 13%
The
Philippines 203,513 65,405 59,626 100,427 95,241 80,800 57,509 19%
Myanmar 51,858 7,876 15,308 32,118 64,501 8,899 84,416 65%
Nigeria 14,565 9,763 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Ghana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Sierra Leone 2,652 1,178 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Kenya 55,257 26,697 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Tanzania 9,679 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Uganda 83,629 59,563 49,897 3,557 0 0 0 0%
Rwanda 16,068 4,703 2,800 0 0 0 0 0%
Zambia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Total 657,430 366,065 293,327 136,218 183,172 89,699 149,013 6.3%
Moratorium amounts (in USD thousands)
December
moratoriums As %
as % of Total
Countries Mar-Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total of OLP Moratoriums
India 5,831 5,437 3,705 0 0 0 0 14,973 0% 23%
Pakistan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0%
Sri Lanka 1,153 248 2 24 262 0 130 1,820 1% 3%
The
Philippines 7,266 2,132 2,277 3,969 4,954 3,935 2,285 26,818 5% 42%
Myanmar 1,128 245 395 849 1,909 240 4,068 8,834 13% 14%
Nigeria 597 427 0 0 0 0 0 1,023 0% 2%
Ghana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0%
Sierra Leone 30 20 0 0 0 0 0 50 0% 0%
Kenya 3,976 805 0 0 0 0 0 4,781 0% 7%
Tanzania 267 0 0 0 0 0 0 267 0% 0%
Uganda 1,819 1,574 1,185 159 0 0 0 4,737 0% 7%
Rwanda 380 124 74 0 0 0 0 578 0% 1%
Zambia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0%
Total 22,446 11,012 7,638 5,001 7,125 4,175 6,483 63,881 1.4% 100.0%
(6) Moratoriums relate to clients who have received an extension
for the payment of one or more loan instalments during the
month.
-- Moratorium on loan repayments were granted to clients in Sri
Lanka, the Philippines and Myanmar and amounted to USD 6.5m, which
represents 1.4 % of the Group's Gross OLP for the month.
Please note that, while the Company's operational performance
appears to gradually normalize, the risk of further challenges to
our operations should not be underestimated due to (i) the still
relatively high infection rates, (ii) the current lack of available
vaccines in almost all our operating countries, (iii) the risk of
the introduction of the more infectious COVID-19 variants in our
operating countries as have been recently observed in the United
Kingdom and South Africa, and (iv) the associated disruption this
may cause to the businesses of our clients.
---
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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