March 2021 business update

RNS Number : 9550V

ASA International Group PLC

20 April 2021

 

ASA International Group plc March 2021 business update

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 20 April 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 March 2021.

· Liquidity continues to remain high with approximately USD 107m of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents across the Group on 31 March 2021.

· The pipeline of funding deals under negotiation totalled approximately USD 180m.

· 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 continued to steadily improve reaching 88%, despite ongoing challenges in the operating environment concerning Assam and West Bengal.

· The Philippines improved collections to 88% and granted minimal moratoriums to 793 clients for a total amount of USD 16k within the month.

· Collections in Myanmar decreased to 66% due to the disruptions following the military's takeover of the Government and 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 14.3% from 15.7% in February 2021, and PAR>90 remaining at 9.3%. The Group's operating subsidiaries, excluding India, the Philippines and Myanmar, collectively have been able to maintain PAR>30 at 4.2%.

· Kenya and Uganda continued to see significant improvements in their portfolio quality as also reflected in higher collection efficiency in recent months.

· Disbursements as percentage of collections exceeded 100% in eight countries with lower percentages in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Rwanda.

· As a result, the number of clients and Gross OLP continued to gradually increase reaching approximately 2.5m and USD 484m (6% higher than in March 2020 and 6% higher compared to February 2021), respectively, across the Group.

· The moratoriums granted amounted to USD 1.6 m, primarily related to ongoing disruption to 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 135 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 1,656 at end of Feb ruary 2021 to 1,700 as at 31 March 2021, resulting in 37 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

 

Funding

· Unrestricted cash and cash equivalents remained high at approximately USD 107m.

· The Company secured approximately USD 31m of new loans from local and international lenders in March 2021.

· The majority of the Company's USD 180m 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 31 March 2021^{(1, 2)} 

Countries	01-15 Jan	16-31 Jan	01-15 Feb	16-28 Feb	01-15 Mar	16-31 Mar
India	81%	83%	84%	84%	86%	88%
Pakistan	98%	98%	99%	99%	99%	99%
Sri Lanka	100%	94%	86%	93%	90%	91%
The Philippines	71%	80%	77%	82%	83%	88%
Myanmar	90%	89%	80%	76%	52%	66%
Nigeria	93%	97%	96%	97%	95%	96%
Ghana	99%	99%	100%	100%	100%	100%
Sierra Leone	95%	95%	84%	94%	92%	99%
Kenya	96%	97%	98%	99%	100%	100%
Tanzania	99%	99%	99%	100%	100%	100%
Uganda	85%	89%	91%	94%	98%	99%
Rwanda	93%	93%	89%	93%	94%	97%
Zambia	99%	100%	99%	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 stable in all countries with the exception of Myanmar.

· Collections in India improved to 88%, despite the political environment remaining challenging due to possible government intervention in Assam (approximately 16% of ASA India's loan portfolio) after scheduled elections and reduced collections in various semi-suburban regions of West Bengal.

· Collections continued to improve in the Philippines despite a few local lockdowns implemented.

· Collections in Myanmar decreased to 66% 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 March 2021^{(3, 4)}

	Gross OLP (in USDm)							Non-overdue loans								PAR>30
	Jan/21		Feb/21		Mar/21			Jan/21			Feb/21		Mar/21			Jan/21	Feb/21	Mar/21
India (total)	167		168		182			61.5%			64.5%		69.4%			30.7%	29.6%	27.9%
On-book	119		121		134			60.2%			63.5%		69.3%			32.6%	31.3%	26.7%
Off-book	48		47		48			64.7%			67.3%		69.9%			25.9%	25.3%	23.4%
Pakistan	66		69		74			95.5%			96.2%		96.7%			3.5%	3.1%	2.8%
Sri Lanka	9		9		9			90.3%			90.6%		89.4%			6.6%	5.9%	4.9%
Philippines	50		51		53			71.9%			73.8%		76.2%			6.0%	23.3%	22.5%
Myanmar	33		30		31			99.1%			84.1%		48.9%			0.5%	0.6%	4.4%
Ghana	42		45		47			99.4%			99.4%		99.5%			0.4%	0.4%	0.3%
Nigeria	31		32		33			91.4%			91.5%		91.5%			5.7%	5.5%	5.3%
Sierra Leone	4		5		5			89.8%			91.3%		92.1%			4.8%	4.6%	4.6%
Kenya	13		14		15			79.3%			82.9%		84.9%			19.5%	16.4%	14.0%
Uganda	7		8		8			71.0%			76.5%		81.1%			28.6%	23.3%	18.7%
Tanzania	22		22		24			97.1%			97.4%		97.7%			2.4%	2.3%	2.1%
Rwanda	3		3		3			86.2%			83.1%		85.8%			10.3%	10.7%	10.3%
Zambia	0		1		1			94.7%			95.6%		98.4%			5.1%	4.3%	1.6%
Group	449		457		484			79.6%			80.3%		80.3%			14.5%	15.7%	14.3%
		PAR>90								PAR>180
		Jan/21		Feb/21		Mar/21				Jan/21		Feb/21		Mar/21
India (total)		17.0%		18.9%		20.0%				1.2%		1.5%		6.4%
On-book		18.6%		20.7%		19.7%				1.5%		1.7%		6.4%
Off-book		13.2%		14.5%		15.2%				0.6%		0.9%		4.5%
Pakistan		2.9%		2.7%		2.6%				2.0%		2.0%		2.1%
Sri Lanka		5.9%		5.2%		3.9%				2.7%		2.8%		2.9%
Philippines		3.7%		3.8%		3.9%				1.4%		1.6%		1.8%
Myanmar		0.4%		0.4%		3.4%				0.2%		0.3%		1.9%
Ghana		0.4%		0.3%		0.3%				0.3%		0.3%		0.3%
Nigeria		4.8%		4.5%		4.2%				2.6%		2.9%		3.2%
Sierra Leone		3.3%		3.1%		3.2%				1.9%		2.0%		2.0%
Kenya		18.2%		15.9%		13.8%				2.9%		7.1%		13.5%
Uganda		19.7%		20.8%		18.4%				0.4%		0.6%		2.8%
Tanzania		2.1%		2.1%		1.9%				0.9%		1.3%		1.5%
Rwanda		7.8%		8.8%		8.4%				0.8%		0.8%		3.2%
Zambia		4.9%		4.2%		1.5%				3.7%		3.4%		0.7%
Group		8.7%		9.3%		9.3%				1.3%		1.7%		3.7%
(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 14.3% primarily due to the improvements in collections seen across the Group, with the exception of Myanmar.

· PAR>90 remained at 9.3% for the Group primarily due to the large amount of overdue in India.

· Credit exposure of the India off-book BC portfolio of USD 45m is capped at 5%. The included off-book DA portfolio of USD 3m has no credit exposure.

Disbursements vs collections of loans until 31 March 2021⁽⁵⁾

Countries	01-15 Jan	16-31 Jan	01-15 Feb	16-28 Feb	01-15 Mar	16-31 Mar
India	83%	96%	92%	116%	118%	143%
Pakistan	95%	99%	99%	99%	99%	99%
Sri Lanka	61%	129%	88%	145%	98%	86%
The Philippines	124%	102%	94%	107%	100%	93%
Myanmar	130%	158%	32%	78%	80%	61%
Nigeria	35%	100%	106%	104%	106%	112%
Ghana	68%	119%	108%	116%	112%	123%
Sierra Leone	53%	124%	103%	114%	113%	107%
Kenya	67%	126%	109%	117%	102%	112%
Tanzania	61%	96%	94%	101%	94%	109%
Uganda	20%	71%	93%	105%	92%	105%
Rwanda	56%	64%	62%	83%	81%	91%
Zambia	114%	160%	142%	137%	103%	126%

(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 most countries, disbursements of new loans continued to increase in amount and as a percentage of weekly collections, with the exception of Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Myanmar.

Development of Clients and Outstanding Loan Portfolio until 31 March 2021

	Clients (in thousands)			Delta		Gross OLP (in USDm)			Delta
Countries	Mar/20	Feb/21	Mar/21	Mar/20- Mar/21	Feb/21- Mar/21	Mar/20	Feb/21	Mar/21	Mar/20- Mar/21 USD	Mar/20- Mar/21 CC(6)	Feb/21- Mar/21 USD
India	741	729	748	1%	3%	180	168	182	1%	-1%	8%
Pakistan	438	432	442	1%	2%	60	69	74	23%	13%	7%
Sri Lanka	62	57	58	-7%	1%	10	9	9	-5%	0%	-1%
The Philippines	341	313	319	-6%	2%	53	51	53	0%	-4%	4%
Myanmar	151	128	131	-14%	2%	35	30	31	-13%	-11%	1%
Nigeria	252	256	258	2%	1%	29	32	33	15%	16%	3%
Ghana	154	154	155	1%	0%	39	44	47	22%	21%	5%
Sierra Leone	35	38	39	11%	2%	3	5	5	53%	61%	7%
Kenya	100	99	102	2%	4%	15	14	15	-1%	3%	6%
Tanzania	121	129	133	9%	3%	19	22	24	22%	22%	5%
Uganda	98	81	83	-15%	2%	9	8	8	-13%	-16%	5%
Rwanda	21	18	18	-13%	-1%	3	3	3	-4%	1%	1%
Zambia	4	6	7	84%	9%	0	1	1	79%	120%	5%
Total	2,518	2,440	2,492	-1%	2%	456	457	484	6%	4%	6%

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

· With disbursements gradually increasing at many operating companies, Gross OLP increased 6% to USD 484m in March 2021 compared to the previous month and ended up 6% higher than March 2020 in USD.

Selected moratoriums⁽⁷⁾ on loan repayments until 31 March 2021

	Clients under moratorium
Countries	Jan/21	Feb/21	Mar/21	As % of Total Clients
India	0	0	0	0%
Pakistan	0	0	0	0%
Sri Lanka	9,010	5,114	0	0%
The Philippines	0	835	793	0%
Myanmar	17,563	38,597	63,074	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	26,573	44,546	63,867	2.6%

	Moratorium amounts (USD thousands)
Countries	Jan/21	Feb/21	Mar/21	Total since Mar/20	March moratoriums as % of OLP	As % of Total Moratoriums
India	0	0	0	14,938	0%	23%
Pakistan	0	0	0	0	0%	0%
Sri Lanka	168	96	0	2,021	0%	3%
The Philippines	0	20	16	26,550	0%	40%
Myanmar	402	959	1,582	11,387	5%	17%
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	4,760	0%	7%
Tanzania	0	0	0	266	0%	0%
Uganda	0	0	0	4,716	0%	7%
Rwanda	0	0	0	578	0%	1%
Zambia	0	0	0	0	0%	0%
Total	569	1,075	1,598	66,300	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 the Philippines and amounted to USD 1.6m in total, which represents 0.3% of the Group's Gross OLP.

·Moratoriums granted in Myanmar increased compared to the previous month, 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, and in some countries increasing, 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.

Notice of Full Year Results

As announced on 23 March 2021, the Company expects to announce its results for the year ended 31 December 2020 in mid-May 2021. The date will be confirmed in due course.

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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.

 

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