Unaudited results for 3M/2022 – profit on growth in every country, digitalization in every country, acquisition of first bank

STRATEGIC HIGHLIGHTS

  • Total number of customers increased by 23,7% to 850 thousand (31 December 2021: 687 thousand).
  • Acquisition of controlling stake in Moldovan Energbank with twofold potential for additional revenue streams with Wallet (payments) services and growth of loan portfolio without increased FX exposure.
  • Group consolidated balance sheet and equity doubled as at 31 March 2022.
  • Increasing use of the digital customer journey with MyIute app being downloaded by 245 thousand customers (31 December 2021: 181 thousand customers).
  • Ongoing investment into New Core IT platform for management of customer experience and integrated loans and wallet service value streams.

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

  • Loan payouts increased 27,9% to 41,7 million EUR (3M/2021: 32,6 million EUR).
  • Number of loans signed up y-o-y 127,0% to 73.987 (3M/2021: 32.589).
  • Balance sheet up 5,6% to 176,2 million EUR (31 December 2021: 166,8 million EUR).
  • Gross loan portfolio up 2,1% to 122,9 million EUR (31 December 2021: 120,4 million EUR) of which principal amount of loans increased 1,9% to 108,0 million EUR (31 December 2021: 106,0 million EUR).
  • Repayment discipline (Customer Performance Index, CPI30) significantly improved to an all-time high of 91,0% (3M/2021: 87,9%).
  • Net loan portfolio up 2,5% to 108,0 million EUR (31 December 2021: 105,4 million EUR).
  • Rollout of 63 cardless ATMs to date cuts intermediaries and reduces need for plastic cards and cuts plastic waste.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

  • Interest and commission fee income up 22,0% to 13,1 million EUR (3M/2021: 10,7 million EUR) affected by steadily increasing payouts compared to the 18,3% increase in the average net loan portfolio.
  • Net interest and commission fee income up 17,4% to 8,8 million EUR (3M/2021: 7,5 million EUR) as a result of increased interest payments related to bonds issuances while cash position remained high.
  • Total income up 14,4% to 15,9 million EUR (3M/2021: 13,9 million EUR).
  • Cost to income ratio at 44,2% (3M/2021: 38,5%) mainly as result of expenses related to the acquisition of Energbank, recovering business activity and the related normalization of costs as well as strategic initiatives and consulting costs.
  • EBITDA adjusted for FX/revaluation up 21,3% to 6,2 million EUR (3M/2021: 5,1 million EUR).
  • Net profit at 0,6 million EUR (3M/2021: 1,1 million EUR).
  • Strong capitalization and profitability– Eurobond covenants exceeded.

Tallinn, Estonia, 24 May 2022. IuteCredit Europe (“ICE”), a leading European personal finance group, reported today unaudited results for 3M/2022.

“After joint efforts over the past three years, we acquired the first bank for the Group. The strategic acquisition of Moldovan Energbank opens a twofold potential of additional service streams for our retail customers and as a result revenue streams for IuteGroup. In doing so, we will evolve from a single service provider to multiple services provider that creates an extraordinary experience for our customers. In addition to the long-term value generation, the acquisition also has immediate rewards for IuteGroup. The consolidated balance sheet doubled to 300 million EUR and equity increased to 50 million EUR. Now, within the next two quarters, we intend at the bank to reshape corporate governance, set up internal communication lines and align organizations and business metrics with IuteGroup principles. Reshaping the service processes for our customers will naturally take a little bit longer until 2023. The true benefits of the bank for our customers and the subsequent returns from our customers to our income statement should become visible in the course of 2023.”

At the same time, the digitalization of IuteGroup for even more powerful services and the monetization of data continues. Here, the number of MyIute app users had reached 245 thousand. In addition, IuteGroup is currently in the transition phase to a next-generation IT system that enables much better data management and conversion of data back into business.

By contrast, we felt the fresh headwinds in Q1 of the current financial year 2022. Inflation made itself felt throughout Europe, leaving less flexibility for loan repayments and constraining demand for new loans. Thus, we are more than satisfied that the quality of our customers is reflected in an all-time high CPI level through their loan repayment discipline, but we also have to note that our customers tend to be more conservative in assuming new liabilities. On the bottom line, new loan sales were not as strong as expected. The net loan portfolio only grew by 4 million EUR in Q1 (excluding the growth resulting from the acquisition of Energbank).

The Russian invasion and the war in Ukraine also had an adverse effect. Customer confidence in Moldova is limited and so their borrowing was more limited. In consequence, Albania has surpassed Moldova as of March 2022 as our largest consumer finance market in terms of its loan portfolio and revenue.

In summary, we are confident of achieving profitable growth again this year. We look forward to a strong 2022 and beyond. Our goal is to continue increasing our customer pool, expanding service value streams, continuing digitalization and our acquisition policy and eventually reach the 2022 revenue target of more than 75 million EUR with 300,000 performing customers. The initial annual net profit target has been already exceeded, therefore the new net profit benchmark is 16 million EUR,” said Tarmo Sild, Group CEO of IuteCredit.

The full unaudited report for 3M/2022 is available under https://iute.com/investor/#reports.

Earnings Call:

CEO Tarmo Sild and CFO Kristel Kurvits will comment on the unaudited 3M/2022 results by means of a webcast presentation on 25 May 2022, 10.00 CEST. The webcast/call will be held in English.

Please register in time to participate in the webcast/call at:
IuteCredit Europe – Earnings Call 3M 2022.

The corresponding presentation will also be available on the Company’s website prior to the earnings webcast/call.