TIDMASAI
RNS Number : 4150Q
ASA International Group PLC
26 February 2021
ASA International Group plc January 2021 business update
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 26 February 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 January 2021.
-- Liquidity continues to remain high with approximately USD
109m of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents across the Group on
31 January 2021.
-- The pipeline of funding deals under negotiation totalled approximately USD 226m.
-- With the exception of India, the Philippines, Myanmar, and
Uganda, all other operating countries achieved collection
efficiency of more than 90% in January.
-- India marginally improved collections to 83% by the end of
January as collections continue to be adversely affected by
possible local Government regulatory changes in Assam, which also
affected neighbouring districts in West Bengal ( Jalpaiguri and
Cooch Behar). In addition, collections also remained weak in in
southern districts of West Bengal, including the Midnapore and the
24 Parganas, which were most severely affected by the cyclone
Amphan in May 2020 .
-- The Philippines improved collections to 80% by the end of
January 2021 with no additional moratoriums granted within the
month.
-- Uganda significantly improved collections reaching 89% by the end of January 2021.
-- Collections in Myanmar remained stable at 89-90% following
the end of the Government lockdowns in Yangon and Bago Region. We
expect some disruption to operations in February following the
military's takeover of the Government and ongoing nation-wide
protests.
-- Disbursements as percentage of collections exceeded 100% in
many countries with the exception of India, Pakistan, Tanzania,
Uganda, and Rwanda.
-- As a result, the number of clients and Gross OLP continued to
gradually increase reaching approximately 2.4m and USD 449m (3%
less than J an uary 2020), respectively, across the Group.
-- The moratoriums granted for January 2021 amounted to USD 601K
and were limited to the operations in Sri Lanka and Myanmar
(lockdown Yangon and Bago Regions).
Health impact of COVID-19 on our communities
-- The immediate health impact of COVID-19 on the Company's
operations remain ed low with 114 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 1,536 at end of December 2020 to 1,632 as at 31 January 2021,
resulting in 27 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Funding
-- Unrestricted cash and cash equivalents remain high at
approximately USD 109m on 31 January 2021.
-- The Company secured approximately USD 29m of new loans from
local and international lenders in January 2021.
-- The majority of the Company's USD 226m 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 January 2021 (1, 2, 3)
Countries 2020 2021
01-15 16-31 01-15 16-30 01-15 16-30 01-15 16-31
Oct Oct Nov Nov Dec Dec Jan Jan
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
India 77% 76% 78% 77% 79% 82% 81% 83%
Pakistan 97% 97% 97% 97% 98% 96% 98% 98%
Sri Lanka 90% 83% 79% 94% 94% 96% 100% 94%
The Philippines 65% 68% 69% 75% 76% 59% 71% 80%
Myanmar 65% 75% 86% 88% 90% 91% 90% 89%
Nigeria 93% 94% 94% 95% 96% 97% 93% 97%
Ghana 99% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 99% 99%
Sierra Leone 99% 99% 94% 91% 96% 90% 95% 95%
Kenya 84% 91% 95% 90% 92% 97% 96% 97%
Tanzania 99% 99% 99% 100% 100% 99% 99% 99%
Uganda 72% 78% 82% 80% 83% 82% 85% 89%
Rwanda 86% 91% 93% 88% 90% 92% 93% 93%
Zambia 99% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100% 99% 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) As of December 2020, 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) In November and December 2020, collection efficiency in
Myanmar excludes the branches in Yangon and Bago Region, which
were under strict lockdown during these months.
-- Collection efficiency across the Group remained stable in
January in all countries with the exception of the Phi lippines and
Uganda which saw an increase .
-- Collections in India increased marginally in January, as the
environment remains challenging due to possible government
intervention in Assam (approximately 16% of ASA India's loan
portfolio) ahead or after scheduled elections, which adversely
affected collections not only in Assam, but also in neighbouring
districts in West Bengal, such as Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar.
Collections also remained relatively weak in southern districts of
West Bengal, including the Midnapore and the 24 Parganas, which
were most severely affected by the cyclone Amphan which hit West
Bengal in May 2020.
-- In the Philippines, the government imposed 60-day grace
period for the repayment of loans ended in December 2020 which
contributed to an improvement in collections.
-- Despite that collections in Yangon and Bago divisions started
again in January, after a two months lockdown, overall collection
efficiency remained stable at 89-90%.
-- U ganda significantly improved collections reaching 89% by the end of January 2021.
Disbursements vs collections of loans until 31 January 2021
(4)
Countries 2020 2021
01-15 16-31 01-15 16-30 01-15 16-30 01-15 16-31
Oct Oct Nov Nov Dec Dec Jan Jan
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
India 91% 68% 81% 72% 79% 81% 83% 96%
Pakistan 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 108% 95% 99%
Sri Lanka 17% 135% 45% 89% 108% 148% 61% 129%
The Philippines 74% 96% 55% 107% 99% 108% 124% 102%
Myanmar 24% 44% 88% 132% 110% 150% 130% 158%
Nigeria 152% 136% 172% 162% 139% 61% 35% 100%
Ghana 116% 95% 118% 112% 129% 117% 68% 119%
Sierra Leone 123% 116% 100% 101% 113% 104% 53% 124%
Kenya 92% 103% 91% 110% 122% 98% 67% 126%
Tanzania 101% 106% 93% 90% 100% 75% 61% 96%
Uganda 88% 95% 95% 100% 113% 35% 20% 71%
Rwanda 83% 87% 102% 112% 122% 102% 56% 64%
Zambia 93% 86% 85% 109% 110% 73% 114% 160%
----------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
(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 Pakistan, Uganda, and Rwanda.
Development of Clients and Outstanding Loan Portfolio (5) until
31 J anuary 2021
Gross OLP (in
Clients (in thousands) Delta USDm) Delta
Jan/20- Jan/20- Dec/20-
Jan/20- Dec/20- Jan/21 Jan/21 Jan/21
Countries Jan/20 Dec/20 Jan/21 Jan/21 Jan/21 Jan/20 Dec/20 Jan/21 USD CC USD
India 738 714 719 -3% 1% 183 167.1 167.6 -8% -6% 0%
Pakistan 436 421 426 -2% 1% 63 64.5 66.1 5% 9% 2%
Sri Lanka 62 56 56 -11% 0% 9 9.2 9.0 -3% 2% -2%
The
Philippines 340 299 305 -10% 2% 52 50.3 49.5 -5% -10% -2%
Myanmar 153 129 132 -14% 2% 33 30.7 33.4 2% -8% 9%
Nigeria 251 253 248 -1% -2% 30 32.5 31.2 3% 8% -4%
Ghana 160 158 153 -4% -3% 41 42.5 42.6 3% 9% 0%
Sierra Leone 34 36 37 10% 3% 3 4.3 4.5 63% 71% 6%
Kenya 101 92 95 -6% 3% 17 13.1 13.0 -25% -18% -1%
Tanzania 122 121 125 2% 3% 20 21.6 21.6 7% 8% 0%
Uganda 100 81 80 -20% -2% 10 8.2 7.4 -25% -25% -9%
Rwanda 21 19 19 -12% -3% 3 3.0 2.8 -2% 1% -5%
Zambia 2 5 6 133% 8% 0 0.4 0.5 129% 231% 17%
Total 2,520 2,384 2,400 -5% 1% 465 447 449 -3% -2% 0%
(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 449m in Janua ry 2021
compared to the previous month and ended up 3% below January 2020
in USD.
Selected moratorium (6) on loan repayments until 31 Janua ry
2021
Clients under moratorium
As % of
Countries Mar/20-June/20 Jul/20 Aug/20 Sep/20 Oct/20 Nov/20 Dec/20 Jan/21 Total Clients
India 182,318 181,878 165,618 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Pakistan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Sri Lanka 37,891 9,002 78 116 23,430 0 10,634 9,010 16%
The Philippines 203,513 65,405 59,626 100,427 95,241 80,800 57,511 0 0%
Myanmar 51,858 7,876 15,308 32,118 64,501 8,899 85,970 17,563 13%
Nigeria 14,565 9,763 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Ghana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Sierra Leone 2,652 1,178 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Kenya 55,257 26,697 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Tanzania 9,679 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Uganda 83,629 59,563 49,897 3,557 0 0 0 0 0%
Rwanda 16,068 4,703 2,800 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Zambia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%
Total 657,430 366,065 293,327 136,218 183,172 89,699 154,115 26,573 1.1%
Moratorium amounts (in USD thousands)
January As
moratoria % of
as % Total
Countries Mar/20-Jun/20 Jul/20 Aug/20 Sep/20 Oct/20 Nov/20 Dec/20 Jan/21 Total of OLP Moratoria
India 5,831 5,438 3,706 0 0 0 0 0 14,975 0% 23%
Pakistan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0%
Sri Lanka 1,122 241 2 23 255 0 194 175 2,013 2% 3%
The
Philippines 7,260 2,131 2,275 3,966 4,950 3,932 2,259 0 26,772 0% 42%
Myanmar 1,129 245 396 850 1,912 241 4,190 426 9,388 1% 15%
Nigeria 603 431 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,034 0% 2%
Ghana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0%
Sierra
Leone 30 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 50 0% 0%
Kenya 3,934 796 0 0 0 0 0 0 4,730 0% 7%
Tanzania 266 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 266 0% 0%
Uganda 1,801 1,559 1,174 157 0 0 0 0 4,692 0% 7%
Rwanda 382 124 75 0 0 0 0 0 581 0% 1%
Zambia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0%
Total 22,358 10,987 7,627 4,996 7,117 4,173 6,643 601 64,502 0.1% 100.0%
(6) Moratoriums relate to clients who have received an extension
for the payment of one or more loan instalments during the
month.
-- Moratoriums on loan repayments were granted to clients in Sri
Lanka and Myanmar and amounted to USD 601k, which represents 0.1 %
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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