April 2021 business update

RNS Number : 7880Z

ASA International Group PLC

26 May 2021

 

ASA International Group plc April 2021 business update

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 26 May 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 April 2021.

· Liquidity remained high with approximately USD 109m of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents across the Group on 30 April 2021.

· The pipeline of funding deals under negotiation totalled approximately USD 164m.

· With the exception of India, the Philippines, and Myanmar, all other operating companies achieved collection efficiency of more than 90% and 9 out of 13 countries achieved collection efficiency of more than 95%.

· India collections remained broadly stable at 87% due to ongoing challenges of the operating environment in Assam and the second wave of COVID-19 affecting the whole country.

· The Philippines collections decreased to 83% due to the implementation of various, regional lockdowns.

· Collections in Myanmar remained broadly stable at 65% due to the ongoing disruption following the military's takeover of the Government and the ongoing nation-wide protests.

· Portfolio quality remained challenging, particularly in India and the Philippines with benchmark PAR>30 for the Group, including off-book loans and excluding loans overdue more than 365 days, slightly improving to 13.3% from 14.3% in March 2021, and PAR>90 slightly increasing to 10.6% from 9.3% in March 2021. The Group's operating subsidiaries, excluding India, the Philippines and Myanmar, collectively have been able to maintain PAR>30 at 3.8%.

· Disbursements as percentage of collections exceeded 100% in 7 countries with much lower percentages seen in India, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.

· The number of clients continued to increase more than 2.5m, while Gross OLP slightly decreased to USD 482m (7% higher than in April 2020 and 0.4% lower compared to March 2021), across the Group.

· The moratoriums granted in April amounted to USD 1.4 m, primarily related to ongoing disruption of the operations in Myanmar .

Health impact of COVID-19 on staff and clients

· The immediate health impact of COVID-19 on the Company's operations remained low with only 149 of over 12,500 staff members confirmed as infected since March 2020 , but with no deaths . Since March 2020, confirmed infections amongst 2.5m clients increased from 1,700 to 2,107 as at 30 April 2021, resulting in 38 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Funding

· Unrestricted cash and cash equivalents remained high at approximately USD 109m.

· The Company secured approximately USD 6m of new loans from local and international lenders in April 2021.

· The majority of the Company's USD 164m pipeline of future wholesale loans are supported by (agreed) term sheets and/or draft loan documentations. The terms and conditions of the remaining loans are being negotiated with lenders.

Collection efficiency until 30 April 2021 ^{(1, 2)}  

Countries	01-15 Feb	16-28 Feb	01-15 Mar	16-31 Mar	01-15 Apr	16-30 Apr
India	84%	84%	86%	88%	86%	87%
Pakistan	99%	99%	99%	99%	99%	99%
Sri Lanka	86%	93%	90%	91%	93%	94%
The Philippines	77%	82%	83%	88%	85%	83%
Myanmar	80%	76%	52%	66%	45%	65%
Nigeria	96%	97%	95%	96%	93%	96%
Ghana	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
Sierra Leone	84%	94%	92%	99%	90%	96%
Kenya	98%	99%	100%	100%	100%	99%
Tanzania	99%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
Uganda	91%	94%	98%	99%	100%	100%
Rwanda	89%	93%	94%	97%	95%	95%
Zambia	99%	100%	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)  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%.

· Collection efficiency across the Group increased or remained broadly stable compared to the previous month in all countries, with the exception of the Philippines and Sierra Leone .

· Collections in India remained broadly stable at 87 % compared to the previous month, due to the challenging political environment in Assam (approximately 13% of ASA India's loan portfolio) following the recent elections and increased disruptions to operations as result of the severe second wave of COVID-19 .

· Collections decreased to 83% in the Philippines due to the imposition of various local and regional lockdowns following a recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

· Collections in Myanmar remained broadly stable at 65% compared to the previous month, due to disruptions to the ordinary life of citizens caused by the military's takeover of the Government and ongoing nation-wide protests.

Loan portfolio quality up to and including April 2021 ^{(3, 4)}

	Gross OLP (in USDm)				Non-overdue loans				PAR>30
	Feb/21	Mar/21	Apr/21		Feb/21	Mar/21	Apr/21		Feb/21	Mar/21	Apr/21
India (total)	168	182	177		64.5%	69.4%	70.0%		29.6%	27.9%	24.3%
Pakistan	69	74	76		96.2%	96.7%	96.9%		3.1%	2.8%	2.3%
Sri Lanka	9	9	9		90.6%	89.4%	89.0%		5.9%	4.9%	6.0%
Philippines	51	53	54		73.8%	76.2%	75.7%		23.3%	22.5%	21.7%
Myanmar	30	31	26		84.1%	48.9%	48.8%		0.6%	4.4%	3.1%
Ghana	45	47	47		99.4%	99.5%	99.4%		0.4%	0.3%	0.3%
Nigeria	32	33	34		91.5%	91.5%	91.3%		5.5%	5.3%	5.3%
Sierra Leone	5	5	5		91.3%	92.1%	91.9%		4.6%	4.6%	4.6%
Kenya	14	15	16		82.9%	84.9%	86.0%		16.4%	14.0%	13.0%
Uganda	8	8	9		76.5%	81.1%	84.9%		23.3%	18.7%	14.9%
Tanzania	22	24	25		97.4%	97.7%	97.9%		2.3%	2.1%	1.9%
Rwanda	3	3	3		83.1%	85.8%	87.4%		10.7%	10.3%	9.7%
Zambia	1	1	1		95.6%	98.4%	98.6%		4.3%	1.6%	1.4%
Group	457	484	482		80.3%	80.3%	81.1%		15.7%	14.3%	13.3%
	PAR>90				PAR>180
	Feb/21	Mar/21	Apr/21		Feb/21	Mar/21	Apr/21
India (total)	18.9%	20.0%	18.4%		1.5%	6.4%	8.4%
Pakistan	2.7%	2.6%	2.1%		2.0%	2.1%	1.8%
Sri Lanka	5.2%	3.9%	3.6%		2.8%	2.9%	3.0%
Philippines	3.8%	3.9%	19.1%		1.6%	1.8%	2.2%
Myanmar	0.4%	3.4%	2.3%		0.3%	1.9%	1.7%
Ghana	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%		0.3%	0.3%	0.3%
Nigeria	4.5%	4.2%	3.9%		2.9%	3.2%	3.1%
Sierra Leone	3.1%	3.2%	3.2%		2.0%	2.0%	1.9%
Kenya	15.9%	13.8%	12.7%		7.1%	13.5%	11.5%
Uganda	20.8%	18.4%	14.9%		0.6%	2.8%	7.3%
Tanzania	2.1%	1.9%	1.7%		1.3%	1.5%	1.5%
Rwanda	8.8%	8.4%	7.8%		0.8%	3.2%	5.0%
Zambia	4.2%	1.5%	1.3%		3.4%	0.7%	1.0%
Group	9.3%	9.3%	10.6%		1.7%	3.7%	4.6%
(3) 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 outstanding loan portfolio including off-book loans. (4) Gross loan portfolio includes the off-book BC and DA model, excluding interest receivable and before deducting ECL provisions and modification loss.

· PAR>30 improved to 13.3% primarily due to the improvements in collections seen across the Group

· PAR>90 increased to 10.6% for the Group primarily due to the large amount of long-term overdue in India and the Philippines in the absence of the granting of any further moratoriums .

· Credit exposure of the India off-book BC portfolio of USD 44.7m is capped at 5%. The included off-book DA portfolio of USD 2.5m has no credit exposure.

Disbursements vs collections of loans until 30 April 2021 ⁽⁵⁾

Countries	01-15 Feb	16-28 Feb	01-15 Mar	16-31 Mar	01-15 Apr	16-30 Apr
India	92%	116%	118%	143%	63%	79%
Pakistan	99%	99%	99%	99%	99%	104%
Sri Lanka	88%	145%	98%	86%	35%	51%
The Philippines	94%	107%	100%	93%	80%	97%
Myanmar	32%	78%	80%	61%	30%	29%
Nigeria	106%	104%	106%	112%	107%	111%
Ghana	108%	116%	112%	123%	101%	97%
Sierra Leone	103%	114%	113%	107%	85%	105%
Kenya	109%	117%	102%	112%	87%	113%
Tanzania	94%	101%	94%	109%	100%	113%
Uganda	93%	105%	92%	105%	104%	106%
Rwanda	62%	83%	81%	91%	84%	106%
Zambia	142%	137%	103%	126%	123%	91%
(5) 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 gradually improve in many countries, disbursements of new loans continued to stabilise or increase in amount and as a percentage of weekly collections, with the exception of India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

Development of Clients and Outstanding Loan Portfolio   until 30 April 2021

	Clients (in thousands)			Delta		Gross OLP (in USDm)			Delta
Countries	Apr/20	Mar/21	Apr/21	Apr/20- Apr/21	Mar/21- Apr/21	Apr/20	Mar/21	Apr/21	Apr/20- Apr/21 USD	Apr/20- Apr/21 CC (6)	Mar/21- Apr/21 USD
India	741	748	747	1%	0%	181	182	177	-2%	-2%	-3%
Pakistan	433	442	454	5%	3%	62	74	76	23%	17%	2%
Sri Lanka	61	58	56	-7%	-2%	10	9	9	-7%	-4%	-3%
The Philippines	341	319	325	-5%	2%	53	53	54	2%	-2%	2%
Myanmar	150	131	125	-16%	-4%	34	31	26	-22%	-14%	-14%
Nigeria	252	258	257	2%	0%	28	33	34	21%	19%	3%
Ghana	147	155	158	8%	2%	36	47	47	33%	33%	1%
Sierra Leone	33	39	39	18%	1%	3	5	5	71%	81%	3%
Kenya	100	102	105	5%	3%	15	15	16	8%	8%	5%
Tanzania	118	133	137	15%	3%	18	24	25	37%	37%	7%
Uganda	98	83	85	-13%	2%	9	8	9	-5%	-11%	9%
Rwanda	21	18	18	-14%	-1%	3	3	3	-2%	3%	2%
Zambia	4	7	8	116%	14%	0	1	1	151%	200%	10%
Total	2,498	2,492	2,514	1%	1%	451	484	482	7%	6%	-0.4%

⁽⁶⁾ Constant currency ('CC') implies conversion of local currency results to USD with the exchange rate from the beginning of the period.

· With disbursements significantly decreasing in India , Gross OLP   decreased 0.4% to USD 482m in April 2021 compared to the previous month, but ended up 7% higher than April 2020 in USD with strong growth in Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania of our more established operating countries.

Selected moratoriums ⁽⁷⁾ on loan repayments until 30 April 2021

	Clients under moratorium
Countries	Feb/21	Mar/21	Apr/21	As % of Total Clients
India	0	0	0	0%
Pakistan	0	0	0	0%
Sri Lanka	5,114	0	1,321	2%
The Philippines	835	793	0	0%
Myanmar	38,597	63,074	60,156	48%
Nigeria	0	0	0	0%
Ghana	0	0	0	0%
Sierra Leone	0	0	0	0%
Kenya	0	0	0	0%
Tanzania	0	0	0	0%
Uganda	0	0	0	0%
Rwanda	0	0	0	0%
Zambia	0	0	0	0%
Total	44,546	63,867	61,477	2.4%

	Moratorium amounts (USD thousands)
Countries	Feb/21	Mar/21	Apr/21	Total since Mar/20	April moratoriums as % of OLP	As % of Total Moratoriums
India	0	0	0	14,836	0%	22%
Pakistan	0	0	0	0	0%	0%
Sri Lanka	97	0	16	2,058	0.2%	3%
The Philippines	21	16	0	26,729	0%	40%
Myanmar	872	1,439	1,396	11,752	5%	18%
Nigeria	0	0	0	1,034	0%	2%
Ghana	0	0	0	0	0%	0%
Sierra Leone	0	0	0	50	0%	0%
Kenya	0	0	0	4,833	0%	7%
Tanzania	0	0	0	266	0%	0%
Uganda	0	0	0	4,828	0%	7%
Rwanda	0	0	0	576	0%	1%
Zambia	0	0	0	0	0%	0%
Total	990	1,455	1,412	66,963	0.3%	100.0%

⁽⁷⁾ 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 primarily to clients in Myanmar, and a few clients in Sri Lanka and amounted to USD 1.4m in total, which represents 0.3 % of the Group's Gross OLP.

· Moratoriums granted in Myanmar remained around USD 1.4m, due to disruption in operations following the military's takeover of the Government and ongoing nation-wide protests.

Please note that, while the Company's operational performance appears to gradually normalize in most countries, 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 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, and, most recently, the Philippines, and (iv) the associated disruption this may cause to the businesses of our clients.

---

Enquiries:

ASA International Group plc

Investor Relations      [phone]

Véronique Schyns     [e-mail]

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.

 

END

 

 

UPDFLFIREIIEFIL