November 2020 business update

RNS Number : 9310I

ASA International Group PLC

17 December 2020

 

ASA International Group plc November 2020 business update

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 17 December 2020 - 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 2020.

· The immediate health impact of COVID-19 on the Company's operations remains low.

· Liquidity continues to remain high with approximately USD 100m of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents across the Group on 30 November 2020.

· The pipeline of funding deals under negotiation totalled approximately USD 230m.

· 9 out of 13 operating countries showed collections percentage rates in the mid to high nineties.

· India continues to struggle with collections remaining in the high seventies.

· The Philippines continued to gradually improve collections in November despite a difficult business environment amongst others due to the damage caused by the three recent typhoons hitting Luzon Island and the 60-days grace period for the repayment of loan instalments instituted by the government until the end of December.

· Collections were not possible 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 90%.

· Collection efficiency continued to improve in Kenya and Uganda.

· Disbursements as percentage of collections exceeded 100% in many countries with the exception of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.

· As a result, the number of clients and Gross OLP continued to gradually increase reaching approximately 2.4m and USD 439m, respectively, across the Group.

· The Moratoriums granted for November amounted to USD 5.5m and stemmed from the operations in the Philippines and Myanmar.

Health impact of COVID-19 on our communities

· The immediate health impact of COVID-19 on the Company's operations remain ed low with 91 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 1,192 at end of October to 1,383 as at 30 November 2020, resulting in 23 deaths.

Funding

· Unrestricted cash and cash equivalents remained high at approximately USD 100m.

· The Company secured approximately USD 7.1m of new loans from local and international lenders in November 2020.

· The majority of the Company's USD 232.2m 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 2020 ^{(1, 2)}  

Country	01-07 Aug	08-14 Aug	15-22 Aug	23-29 Aug	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
India	41%	49%	53%	58%	60%	68%	78%	74%	77%	76%	78%	77%
Pakistan	96%	96%	96%	94%	96%	96%	96%	97%	97%	97%	97%	97%
Sri Lanka	93%	92%	95%	95%	94%	91%	96%	99%	90%	83%	79%	96%
The Philippines	70%	65%	65%	67%	67%	68%	69%	74%	65%	68%	69%	75%
Myanmar	96%	96%	97%	97%	95%	93%	91%	78%	65%	75%	86%	88%
Nigeria	90%	94%	90%	90%	91%	91%	91%	93%	93%	94%	94%	95%
Ghana	101%	100%	99%	99%	99%	99%	99%	100%	99%	100%	100%	100%
Sierra Leone	94%	96%	96%	97%	94%	97%	96%	99%	99%	99%	93%	96%
Kenya	69%	73%	70%	74%	76%	76%	77%	81%	84%	91%	95%	110%
Tanzania	100%	98%	98%	98%	98%	98%	99%	99%	99%	99%	99%	100%
Uganda	57%	63%	63%	63%	65%	67%	72%	73%	72%	78%	82%	90%
Rwanda	88%	89%	86%	82%	85%	84%	88%	87%	86%	91%	93%	96%
Zambia	99%	99%	99%	99%	100%	100%	100%	100%	99%	99%	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)  Collection efficiency in Myanmar excludes the branches in Yangon and Bago Region, which are under strict lockdowns in November and December.

· Collection efficiency across the Group remained high with 9 out of 13 operating countries showing percentage rates in the mid to high nineties.

· In India, collections remained stable with many clients still struggling to pay instalments on time due to the disruption caused by COVID-19, the long duration of the lockdown and subsequent moratoriums, and natural calamities (cyclone Amphan and flooding in Assam).

· In the Philippines, the government imposed a 60-day grace period for the repayment of loans until the end of December 2020. In addition, there is ongoing disruption caused by limited, regional lockdowns in certain parts of the country. The Philippines is recovering from three typhoons which hit Luzon Island in quick succession recently and which caused substantial disruption to our clients' businesses on top of the existing disruption already caused by COVID-19.

· Collections were not possible in Yangon and Bago divisions in Myanmar due to the institution of a two-months lockdown starting November. In other regions of Myanmar collections were close to 90%.

· Kenya and Uganda significantly improved collections reaching 110% and 90%, respectively.

 

Disbursements vs collections of loans until 30 November 2020⁽³⁾

Country	01-07 Aug	08-14 Aug	15-22 Aug	23-29 Aug	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
India	54%	70%	78%	74%	75%	79%	78%	91%	91%	68%	81%	72%
Pakistan	72%	85%	90%	91%	95%	89%	93%	99%	99%	99%	99%	99%
Sri Lanka	8%	74%	128%	145%	64%	118%	122%	144%	17%	135%	45%	89%
The Philippines	57%	51%	70%	79%	77%	80%	90%	111%	74%	96%	55%	107%
Myanmar	73%	101%	114%	122%	97%	104%	103%	63%	24%	44%	88%	132%
Nigeria	67%	96%	104%	104%	87%	115%	129%	139%	152%	136%	172%	162%
Ghana	120%	120%	112%	117%	113%	115%	123%	119%	116%	95%	118%	112%
Sierra Leone	110%	131%	139%	97%	105%	117%	115%	123%	123%	116%	100%	101%
Kenya	85%	87%	99%	101%	93%	95%	101%	108%	92%	103%	91%	110%
Tanzania	104%	121%	116%	112%	97%	107%	111%	119%	101%	106%	93%	90%
Uganda	42%	75%	78%	69%	65%	68%	69%	66%	88%	95%	95%	100%
Rwanda	88%	93%	79%	87%	81%	79%	84%	81%	83%	87%	102%	112%
Zambia	136%	184%	181%	188%	129%	178%	151%	85%	93%	86%	85%	109%

(3) 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 improving in many countries, disbursements of fresh loans continued to increase in amount and as a percentage of weekly collections.

Development of Clients and Outstanding Loan Portfolio⁽⁴⁾ until 30 November 2020

	Clients (in thousands)				Delta			Gross OLP (in USDm)				Delta
Countries	Dec/19	Oct/20	Nov/20		Dec-Nov	Oct-Nov		Dec/19	Oct/20	Nov/20		Dec- Nov USD	Dec- Nov CC	Oct-Nov USD
India	732	713	713		-3%	0%		183.0	166.3	165.6		-9%	-6%	0%
Pakistan	439	409	416		-5%	2%		62.9	58.4	62.3		-1%	2%	7%
Sri Lanka	63	56	55		-12%	-2%		10.1	9.0	8.8		-13%	-11%	-3%
The Philippines	340	278	292		-14%	5%		53.2	47.2	48.5		-9%	-13%	3%
Myanmar	152	128	128		-16%	0%		31.7	30.4	30.1		-5%	-16%	-1%
Nigeria	260	228	253		-3%	11%		33.5	28.1	32.8		-2%	3%	17%
Ghana	165	151	158		-4%	5%		41.7	40.6	40.4		-3%	-1%	0%
Sierra Leone	34	35	37		8%	5%		2.9	4.2	4.5		53%	57%	6%
Kenya	101	86	90		-11%	5%		17.7	12.8	13.1		-26%	-20%	2%
Tanzania	123	108	116		-5%	8%		20.5	20.5	21.1		3%	4%	3%
Uganda	101	81	82		-19%	1%		10.4	7.9	8.3		-20%	-19%	5%
Rwanda	21	19	19		-9%	2%		3.0	2.6	2.7		-9%	-5%	5%
Zambia	2	5	5		172%	11%		0.2	0.4	0.4		121%	228%	2%
Total	2,533	2,297	2,364		-7%	3%		471	428	439		-7%	-5%	2%

⁽⁴⁾ Loan portfolio including the off-book BC and DA model, excluding interest receivable and before deducting the ECL provision and modification loss.

· Disbursements as percentage of collections exceeded 100% in many countries with the exception of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.

· With disbursements gradually increasing in many operating countries, Gross OLP  increased to USD 439m (up 2%) in November 2020 compared to the previous month.

Selected moratorium⁽⁵⁾ on loan repayments until 30 November 2020

	Clients under moratorium																	As % of
Countries	Mar		Apr		May		Jun		Jul		Aug		Sep		Oct	Nov		Total Clients
India	0		0		0		182,318		181,878		165,618		0		0	0		0%
Pakistan	0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	0		0%
Sri Lanka	0		0		0		37,891		9,002		78		116		23,430	0		0%
The Philippines	1,297		0		57,130		145,086		65,405		59,626		100,427		95,241	98,337		34%
Myanmar	2,307		2,101		35,056		12,394		7,876		15,308		32,118		64,501	11,461		9%
Nigeria	0		0		4,042		10,523		9,763		0		0		0	0		0%
Ghana	0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	0		0%
Sierra Leone	0		91		1,225		1,336		1,178		0		0		0	0		0%
Kenya	20,453		17,366		9,660		7,778		26,697		0		0		0	0		0%
Tanzania	0		194		5,323		4,162		0		0		0		0	0		0%
Uganda	8,269		0		0		75,360		59,563		49,897		3,557		0	0		0%
Rwanda	436		0		7,746		7,886		4,703		2,800		0		0	0		0%
Zambia	0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	0		0%
Total	32,762		19,752		120,182		484,734		366,065		293,327		136,218		183,172	109,798		4.6%
	Moratorium amounts (in USD thousands)															November moratoriums as % of OLP	As % of Total Moratoriums
Countries	Mar	Apr		May	Jun	Jul		Aug		Sep	Oct	Nov		Total
India	0	0		0	5,831	5,368		3,658		0	0	0		14,857		0%	25%
Pakistan	0	0		0	0	0		0		0	0	0		0		0%	0%
Sri Lanka	0	0		0	1,153	248		2		24	262	0		1,688		0%	3%
The Philippines	16	0		935	6,300	2,128		2,272		3,961	4,943	5,165		25,719		11%	44%
Myanmar	42	43		719	341	249		401		862	1,938	306		4,900		1%	8%
Nigeria	0	0		137	466	431		0		0	0	0		1,034		0%	2%
Ghana	0	0		0	0	0		0		0	0	0		0		0%	0%
Sierra Leone	0	1		10	19	20		0		0	0	0		51		0%	0%
Kenya	667	427		2,122	722	797		0		0	0	0		4,735		0%	8%
Tanzania	0	5		147	115	0		0		0	0	0		267		0%	0%
Uganda	77	0		0	1,718	1,553		1,169		156	0	0		4,673		0%	8%
Rwanda	4	0		159	216	124		74		0	0	0		577		0%	1%
Zambia	0	0		0	0	0		0		0	0	0		0		0%	0%
Total	806	476		4,229	16,879	10,918		7,577		5,003	7,143	5,471		58,501		1.2%	100.0%

⁽⁵⁾ Moratoriums relate to clients who have received an extension for the payment of one or more loan instalments during the month.

· The moratorium on loan repayments were granted to clients in the Philippines and Myanmar and amounted to USD 5.5m, which represents 1.2% of the Group's Gross OLP.

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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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