REG - ASA Intnl. Grp PLC - November 2021 business update
21/12/2021 07:00
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RNS Number : 2605W ASA International Group PLC 21 December 2021
Press release
ASA International Group plc November 2021 business update
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 21 December 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 30 November 2021.
· Liquidity remains high with approximately USD 104m of unrestricted
cash and cash equivalents across the Group.
· The pipeline of funding deals under negotiation totalled
approximately USD 202m.
· With the exception of India and Myanmar, all other operating
companies continued to achieve collection efficiency of more than 90% and 9
countries achieved more than 95%.
· India collections remained around 69%, as most states slowly recover
from recent lockdowns. Collection efficiency, excluding instalments due from
clients receiving the one-time loan restructuring offered by the Reserve Bank
of India ('RBI'), remained broadly stable at 92%.
· Sri Lanka collections remained stable at 92%, following the end of
nationwide lockdowns.
· Collections in Myanmar improved to 75% from 68% in October, despite
the partial lockdown imposed by the local government.
· Uganda collections improved to 98% from 94% in October, with fewer
local lockdowns and travel restrictions across the country.
· Portfolio quality remained challenging, particularly in India.
However, the benchmark PAR>30 for the Group, including off-book loans and
excluding loans overdue more than 365 days, improved to 10.1% from 11.8% in
October, and PAR>90 improved to 7.2% from 8.6% in October.
· Excluding all loans which have been overdue for more than 180 days
and, as a result, have been fully provided for, PAR>30 improved from 4.8%
in October to 4.4%.
· The Group's operating subsidiaries, excluding India, the Philippines
and Myanmar, collectively have been able to reduce PAR>30 to 1.7%.
· Disbursements as percentage of collections exceeded 100% in 9
countries with lower, though improved, percentages seen in India, Philippines,
and Myanmar, as clients' businesses recover following prolonged market
disruptions due to high Covid-19 infection rates, which caused, amongst
others, lockdowns and other Covid-19 related restrictions.
· The number of clients remained around 2.5m, while Gross OLP increased
to USD 450m (2% higher than in October 2021 and 2% higher than in November
2020).
· The moratoriums granted in November amounted to USD 32.6m, primarily
due to the loan restructuring of certain distressed clients in India as per
the RBI guidelines.
Health impact of COVID-19 on staff and clients
· Since March 2020, the number of staff members confirmed as infected
by Covid-19 increased to 446 of over 12,800 staff, with two deaths. Confirmed
infections amongst 2.5m clients increased to 20,395 from 19,458 in the
previous month, resulting in 679 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Of
the 679 client deaths across the Group, 451 are from Myanmar, with no deaths
occurring in November 2021.
Funding
· Unrestricted cash and cash equivalents remained high at approximately
USD 104m.
· The Company secured approximately USD 13m of new loans from local and
international lenders in November 2021.
· The majority of the Company's USD 202m 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 30 November 2021((1, 2))
Countries Jan/21 Feb/21 Mar/21 Apr/21 May/21 Jun/21 Jul/21 Aug/21 Sep/21 Oct/21 Nov/21
India 82% 84% 87% 87% 67% 55% 58% 60% 64% 70% 69%
Pakistan 98% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99%
Sri Lanka 97% 90% 91% 93% 57% 76%((3)) 76% 80%((3)) Nil((3)) 91% 92%
The Philippines 75% 80% 85% 84% 89% 99% 100% 99% 96% 97% 97%
Myanmar 89% 78% 59% 55% 67% 70% 64%((4)) Nil((5)) 55%((6)) 68%((6)) 75%((6))
Ghana 99% 100% 100% 100% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 100% 99%
Nigeria 95% 97% 96% 95% 94% 96% 96% 96% 95% 96% 97%
Sierra Leone 95% 89% 96% 93% 92% 94% 93% 92% 91% 93% 92%
Kenya 97% 98% 100% 100% 99% 99% 99% 99% 100% 100% 100%
Uganda 87% 93% 99% 100% 100% 95% 83% 84% 89% 94% 98%
Tanzania 99% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Rwanda 93% 91% 96% 95% 96% 96% 96% 94% 96% 97% 97%
Zambia 100% 100% 100% 100% 99% 100% 100% 99% 100% 99% 99%
((1)) Collection efficiency refers to actual collections from clients divided
by realizable collections for the period.
((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
realizable regular collections, actual overdue collections and actual advance
payments. This also means that collection efficiency no longer can exceed
100%.
((3)) The collection efficiency for 1-15 June 2021, 20-31 August 2021, and
1-30 September is nil due to the lockdowns in Sri Lanka. Only the collection
efficiency for 16-30 June 2021 and 1-19 August 2021 is provided.
((4)) Collection efficiency for 1-16 July 2021. The collection efficiency for
17-31 July is nil due to the holiday from 17 July to 1 August 2021, announced
by the Myanmar Government, so only the collection efficiency for 1-16 July
2021 is provided.
((5)) Collection efficiency for August 2021 is nil due to the stay-at-home
policy from 1 August to 24 September 2021, announced by the Myanmar
Government.
((6)) Collection for September, October and November 2021 is only from clients
who opted to repay instalments despite the ongoing lockdowns.
· Collection efficiency across the Group increased or remained broadly
stable compared to the previous month in all countries.
· Collections in India remained around 69%, as clients' businesses
continue to slowly recover from the impact of recent lockdowns in most states.
Collection efficiency, excluding instalments due from clients receiving the
one-time loan restructuring, increased to 92%.
· Collection efficiency, including regular and overdue collections as
well as advance payments, amounts to 92% as a percentage of the regular,
realizable collections, including advance payments. The substantial difference
is due to the Group's policy that any loan instalment paid is first credited
against the oldest outstanding amount overdue. This has an adverse impact on
India's monthly collection efficiency, which is further aggravated by the
relatively long duration of the loans disbursed in India.
· Collections in Sri Lanka remained stable at 92%, following the end of
nation-wide lockdowns.
· Myanmar collections improved to 75%, despite the partial lockdown
imposed by the government.
· In Uganda collections improved to 98%, with fewer lockdowns and
travel restrictions in place.
Loan portfolio quality up to and including November 2021((7, 8, 9))
Gross OLP (in USDm) Non-overdue loans PAR>30 less PAR>180
Sep/21 Oct/21 Nov/21 Sep/21 Oct/21 Nov/21 Sep/21 Oct/21 Nov/21
India (total) 132 125 125 56.9% 55.7% 57.7% 13.9% 13.3% 12.6%
Pakistan 74 76 77 98.5% 99.6% 99.7% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2%
Sri Lanka 8 8 8 79.4% 81.1% 82.5% 8.8% 6.4% 4.3%
Philippines 54 55 56 76.4% 77.7% 79.1% 2.2% 2.4% 2.1%
Myanmar 20 20 20 89.8% 98.6% 98.6% 0.3% 0.4% 0.4%
Ghana 46 47 49 99.1% 99.1% 99.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3%
Nigeria 35 37 41 89.9% 90.5% 90.9% 3.0% 2.9% 2.6%
Sierra Leone 7 7 7 80.2% 79.7% 78.8% 2.7% 3.2% 4.9%
Kenya 18 19 19 90.8% 91.1% 91.6% 0.5% 0.5% 0.4%
Uganda 9 10 10 79.6% 85.5% 89.1% 7.2% 5.5% 3.8%
Tanzania 29 31 33 98.1% 98.3% 98.4% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3%
Rwanda 3 3 3 88.7% 90.9% 92.7% 2.9% 2.8% 2.4%
Zambia 1 2 2 98.9% 97.7% 98.0% 0.5% 0.5% 0.5%
Group 437 440 450 80.8% 82.0% 83.2% 5.2% 4.8% 4.4%
PAR>30 PAR>90 PAR>180
Sep/21 Oct/21 Nov/21 Sep/21 Oct/21 Nov/21 Sep/21 Oct/21 Nov/21
India (total) 33.1% 29.4% 25.2% 23.2% 20.3% 16.5% 19.2% 16.0% 12.6%
Pakistan 0.8% 0.3% 0.3% 0.7% 0.2% 0.2% 0.5% 0.1% 0.0%
Sri Lanka 11.6% 9.1% 6.8% 7.0% 6.7% 5.2% 2.8% 2.8% 2.5%
Philippines 18.9% 18.2% 17.2% 17.3% 16.6% 16.0% 16.7% 15.8% 15.1%
Myanmar 1.0% 1.0% 1.0% 0.9% 0.8% 0.7% 0.7% 0.6% 0.5%
Ghana 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1%
Nigeria 4.6% 4.5% 4.2% 3.2% 2.9% 2.8% 1.6% 1.6% 1.6%
Sierra Leone 4.4% 5.1% 6.8% 2.8% 3.2% 3.5% 1.8% 1.9% 1.9%
Kenya 3.1% 1.6% 1.0% 2.8% 1.3% 0.8% 2.6% 1.1% 0.6%
Uganda 16.3% 10.6% 5.6% 9.9% 7.1% 4.4% 9.1% 5.1% 1.8%
Tanzania 0.8% 0.6% 0.5% 0.7% 0.5% 0.4% 0.5% 0.3% 0.2%
Rwanda 8.1% 6.4% 4.7% 6.5% 4.6% 3.5% 5.2% 3.6% 2.3%
Zambia 1.0% 0.8% 0.7% 0.9% 0.4% 0.4% 0.6% 0.3% 0.2%
Group 13.8% 11.8% 10.1% 10.2% 8.6% 7.2% 8.6% 7.0% 5.7%
((7) ) Gross OLP includes the off-book BC and DA model, excluding interest
receivable and before deducting ECL provisions and modification loss.
((8) ) PAR>x is the percentage of outstanding customer loans with at least
one instalment payment overdue x days, excluding loans more than 365 days
overdue, to Gross OLP including off-book loans. Loans overdue more than 365
days now comprise 4% of the Gross OLP
((9) ) The table "PAR>30 less PAR>180" shows the percentage of
outstanding client loans with a PAR greater than 30 days, less those loans
which have been fully provided for.
· PAR>30 for the Group improved to 10.1%, primarily due to the
marginal improvements in India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Uganda, and Rwanda as
well as moratoriums granted in India and Myanmar.
· Credit exposure of the India off-book BC portfolio of USD 33.4m is
capped at 5%. The included off-book DA portfolio of USD 1.9m has no credit
exposure.
Disbursements vs collections of loans until 30 November 2021((10))
Countries Jan/21 Feb/21 Mar/21 Apr/21 May/21 Jun/21 Jul/21 Aug/21 Sep/21 Oct/21 Nov/21
India 90% 104% 131% 71% 3% 5% 25% 36% 52% 39% 85%
Pakistan 97% 99% 99% 102% 89%((11)) 102% 98% 103% 100% 100% 98%
Sri Lanka 95% 116% 92% 43% 17% 0% 56% 87% Nil((13)) 86% 100%
The Philippines 113% 101% 96% 88% 91% 88% 87% 91% 89% 90% 90%
Myanmar 144% 55% 71% 30% 76% 87% 64% Nil((12)) 37% 73% 90%
Ghana 94% 112% 118% 99% 91%((11)) 99% 85% 112% 120% 111% 114%
Nigeria 68% 105% 109% 109% 108% 109% 103% 104% 110% 128% 134%
Sierra Leone 89% 109% 110% 95% 101% 118% 119% 133% 124% 112% 112%
Kenya 97% 113% 107% 100% 100% 93% 107% 97% 100% 96% 103%
Uganda 46% 99% 99% 105% 99% 53% 60% 93% 109% 115% 121%
Tanzania 78% 97% 102% 107% 109% 96% 86% 91% 100% 107% 109%
Rwanda 60% 73% 86% 95% 106% 81% 61% 95% 102% 101% 105%
Zambia 137% 140% 115% 107% 142% 170% 103% 102% 102% 110% 111%
((10)) Disbursements vs collections refers to actual loan disbursements made
to clients divided by total loans collected from clients in the period.
((11)) Slowdown in disbursements due to official EID holidays in second week
of May.
((12)) Disbursements vs collections for August is nil due to the stay-at-home
policy announced by the Myanmar Government.
((13)) Disbursements vs collections for September is nil due the nationwide
lockdowns.
· With the business environment continuing to gradually improve in many
countries, disbursements of new loans continued to stabilise or increase as a
percentage of weekly collections.
Development of Clients and Outstanding Loan Portfolio( )until 30 November
2021
Clients (in thousands) Delta Gross OLP (in USDm) Delta
Countries Nov/20 Oct/21 Nov/21 Nov/20-Nov/21 Oct/21-Nov/21 Nov/20 Oct/21 Nov/21 Nov/20-Nov/21 USD Nov/20-Nov/21 CC ((14)) Oct/21-Nov/21 USD
India 713 645 629 -12% -2% 166 125 125 -25% -24% 0%
Pakistan 416 493 501 20% 2% 62 76 77 23% 36% 1%
Sri Lanka 55 52 52 -6% 0% 9 8 8 -7% 2% 2%
The Philippines 292 349 352 21% 1% 49 55 56 13% 18% 1%
Myanmar 128 114 113 -12% -1% 30 20 20 -34% -9% 0%
Ghana 158 153 158 0% 4% 41 47 49 18% 24% 3%
Nigeria 253 256 265 5% 4% 34 37 41 20% 30% 9%
Sierra Leone 37 44 45 24% 2% 4 7 7 57% 74% 0%
Kenya 90 124 129 44% 4% 13 19 19 47% 50% 4%
Uganda 82 86 91 11% 6% 8 10 10 23% 19% 6%
Tanzania 116 166 172 47% 3% 21 31 33 57% 56% 7%
Rwanda 19 17 18 -8% 2% 3 3 3 21% 25% 4%
Zambia 5 13 14 153% 10% 0.4 2 2 364% 294% 11%
Total 2,364 2,511 2,539 7% 1.1% 442 440 450 2% 8% 2%
( )
((14)) Constant currency ('CC') implies conversion of local currency results
to USD with the exchange rate from the beginning of the period.
· With disbursements as percentage of collections stabilising or
exceeding 100% in many countries, Gross OLP increased to USD 450m (2% higher
than in October 2021 and 2% higher than in November 2020).
Selected moratoriums((15)) on loan repayments until 30 November 2021
Clients under moratorium (in thousands)
Countries Sep/21 Oct/21 Nov/21 As % of Total Clients
India 205 205 181 29%
Pakistan 0 0 0 0%
Sri Lanka 3 5 1 2%
The Philippines 0 0 0 0%
Myanmar 58 54 49 44%
Ghana 0 0 0 0%
Nigeria 0 0 0 0%
Sierra Leone 0 0 0 0%
Kenya 0 0 0 0%
Uganda 0 0 0 0%
Tanzania 0 0 0 0%
Rwanda 0 0 0 0%
Zambia 0 0 0 0%
Total 266 264 232 9%
Moratorium amounts (USD thousands)
Countries Sep/21 Oct/21 Nov/21 November Moratoriums as % of OLP As % of Total Moratoriums
India 37,590 34,958 31,647 25% 97%
Pakistan 0 0 0 0% 0%
Sri Lanka 28 71 12 0.1% 0.04%
The Philippines 0 0 0 0% 0%
Myanmar 1,242 1,003 896 4% 3%
Ghana 0 0 0 0% 0%
Nigeria 0 0 0 0% 0%
Sierra Leone 0 0 0 0% 0%
Kenya 0 0 0 0% 0%
Uganda 0 0 0 0% 0%
Tanzania 0 0 0 0% 0%
Rwanda 0 0 0 0% 0%
Zambia 0 0 0 0% 0%
Total 38,860 36,033 32,556 7% 100%
((15)) 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 relate primarily to approximately 30%
of clients in India, who accepted to benefit from the one-time debt
restructuring scheme established by the RBI. See RBI Covid-19 Restructuring
Guidelines
(https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=12086&Mode=0) .
· Moratoriums granted in Sri Lanka and Myanmar were due to disruption
in operations following partial lockdowns.
· The moratorium amount across the Group was USD 32.6m, which
represents 7% of the Group's Gross OLP.
Key events in November and December 2021
· In August 2021, ASA India and other MFIs signed the 'Assam
Microfinance Incentive and Relief Scheme 2021', a MoU with the government of
the State of Assam, with the objective to give incentives and relief to
borrowers, who availed small loans from different MFIs in Assam. As off 28
November 2021, the first phase of the incentive programme has started.
· On the evening of 16 December 2021 Typhoon Rai (Odette) hit the
Philippines, a strong typhoon, affecting the Visayas and Mindanao
archipelagos, and some part of the Luzon archipelago. Pagasa Philippines
reports that all 53 branches in Visayas and 30 branches in Mindanao have been
affected. The exact number of damaged branches, affected staff and borrowers
are yet to be determined. All necessary measures as per the disaster policy
are being executed.
· Other than the existing partial lockdown and curfews in Myanmar,
Uganda and Rwanda, the Company is not aware of any further restrictions
implemented in its operating countries as a result of the emergence of the
Omicron variant up until 20 December 2021.
Please note that, while the Company's operational performance appears to
gradually normalize in most countries except for India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and
Uganda, the risk of additional challenges to our operations should not be
underestimated, as we have recently seen in for instance India and Myanmar,
due to (i) the still relatively high infection rates, (ii) the current lack of
available vaccines in most of our operating countries, (iii) the risk of the
introduction of more infectious COVID-19 variants in our operating countries
as have been observed in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, the
Philippines, Myanmar and India, 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
(mailto: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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