REG - ASA Intnl. Grp PLC - December 2020 business update
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 remained 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 Sep
06-12 Sep
13-19 Sep
20-30 Sep
01-15 Oct
16-31 Oct
01-15 Nov
16-30 Nov
01-15 Dec
16-30 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 Sep
06-12 Sep
13-19 Sep
20-30 Sep
01-15 Oct
16-31 Oct
01-15 Nov
16-30 Nov
01-15 Dec
16-30 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 thousands)
Delta
Gross OLP (in USDm)
Delta
Countries
Dec/19
Nov/20
Dec/20
Dec/19- Dec/20
Nov/20- Dec/20
Dec/19
Nov/20
Dec/20
Dec/19- Dec/20 USD
Dec/19- Dec/20 CC
Nov/20- Dec/20 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
Countries
Mar-Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
As % of
Total 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)
Countries
Mar-Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total
December moratoriums as % of OLP
As % of Total 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.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.ENDUPDGPUBGGUPGPGR
Recent news on ASA International
See all newsREG - ASA Intnl. Grp PLC - FY 2023 Results
AnnouncementREG - ASA Intnl. Grp PLC - March 2024 Quarterly Business Update
AnnouncementREG - ASA Intnl. Grp PLC - Notice of FY 2023 Results
AnnouncementREG - ASA Intnl. Grp PLC - Accounting for hyperinflation & notice of results
AnnouncementREG - ASA Intnl. Grp PLC - December 2023 Quarterly Business Update
Announcement