TIDMASAI
RNS Number : 2782J
ASA International Group PLC
26 April 2022
Press release
ASA International Group plc March 2022 business update
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 26 April 2022 - 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 2022.
-- Liquidity remains high with approximately USD 103m of
unrestricted cash and cash equivalents across the Group.
-- The pipeline of funding deals under negotiation totalled approximately USD 205m.
-- With the exception of India and Myanmar, all other operating
subsidiaries continued to achieve collection efficiency of more
than 90% with 9 countries achieving more than 95%.
-- India collections improved to 81%, despite the substantial
overdue collections and moratoriums provided to clients. Collection
efficiency, excluding instalments due from clients receiving the
one-time loan restructuring offered by the Reserve Bank of India
('RBI'), increased to 116%.
-- T he benchmark PAR>30 for the Group, including off-book
loans and excluding loans overdue more than 365 days, remained
broadly stable (from 6.8% to 6.7%).
-- The PAR>30 for the Group's operating subsidiaries,
excluding India and Myanmar, remained at 1.9%.
-- Excluding all loans which have been overdue for more than 180
days and, as a result, have been fully provided for, PAR>30
remained at 4.6%.
-- Disbursements as percentage of collections exceeded 100% in
10 countries. The decreasing percentage in India was primarily due
to the strategic decision to reduce disbursements.
-- With the number of clients broadly stable at 2.4m (slightly
lower than in February and 5% lower than in March 2021), the
continuing strategic focus in India on collections and the currency
depreciation in Sri Lanka and Ghana , Gross OLP decreased to USD
417m (2% lower than in February 2022 and 13% lower than in March
2021).
-- The moratorium amount decreased to USD 21.7 m, and is
composed of the restructured loans of certain distressed clients in
India as per the RBI guidelines. No other operating subsidiary
granted moratoriums.
Health impact of COVID-19 on staff and clients
-- Since March 2020, the number of staff members confirmed as
infected by Covid increased to 561 of over 13,047 staff , with two
deaths . Confirmed infections amongst 2.4m clients increased to
22,864 from 22,791 in the previous month, resulting in 698 deaths
since the start of the pandemic. Of the 698 client deaths across
the Group, 452 took place in Myanmar, with one death occurring in
March 2022.
Funding
-- Unrestricted cash and cash equivalents remained high at approximately USD 103m.
-- The Company secured approximately USD 19m of new loans from
local and international lenders in March 2022.
-- The majority of the Company's USD 205m 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 31 March 2022 (1)
Countries Oct/21 Nov/21 Dec/21 Jan/22 Feb/22 Mar/22
---------- ---------- ---------- --------- ---------
India 70% 69% 74% 76% 76% 81%
Pakistan 99% 99% 99% 99% 100% 100%
Sri Lanka 91% 92% 94% 93% 93% 94%
The Philippines 97% 97% 97% 98% 98% 99%
Myanmar 68%(2) 75%(2) 78%(2) 78%(2) 72%(2) 72%(2)
Ghana 100% 99% 99% 99% 99% 100%
Nigeria 96% 97% 96% 95% 96% 96%
Sierra Leone 93% 92% 92% 92% 92% 94%
Kenya 100% 100% 100% 99% 100% 100%
Uganda 94% 98% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Tanzania 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Rwanda 97% 97% 97% 97% 97% 97%
Zambia 99% 99% 99% 100% 100% 98%
----------------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- --------- --------- ---------
(1) Collection efficiency refers to actual collections from clients
divided by realizable collections for the period. It is calculated
as follows: 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.
Under this definition collection efficiency cannot exceed 100%.
(2) Collections are impacted by the ongoing lockdowns and civil unrest
in some areas of our operations.
-- Collection efficiency across the Group increased or remained
broadly stable compared to the previous month in all countries
.
-- Collections in India improved to 81%, despite the substantial
overdue collections and moratoriums provided to clients. Collection
efficiency, excluding instalments due from clients receiving the
one-time loan restructuring, increased to 116%.
-- Collection efficiency in India, including regular and overdue
collections as well as advance payments, increased to 113% 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.
This adjusted collection efficiency metric illustrates that most
clients in India continue to make payments on their loans due.
Loan portfolio quality up to and including March 2022 (3, 4,
5)
Gross OLP (in USDm) Non-overdue loans PAR>30 less PAR>180
------------------------------------- ------------------------- -------------------------
Jan/22 Feb/22 Mar/22 Jan/22 Feb/22 Mar/22 Jan/22 Feb/22 Mar/22
India (total) 111 107 103 68.8% 69.7% 70.1% 11.1% 10.2% 9.3%
Pakistan 81 83 83 99.7% 99.7% 99.7% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2%
Sri Lanka 8 8 6 85.3% 85.9% 86.7% 3.9% 4.1% 4.0%
Philippines 46 47 47 94.9% 95.7% 96.3% 2.0% 1.9% 1.6%
Myanmar 21 21 21 64.3% 58.5% 57.7% 1.0% 22.7% 29.3%
Ghana 46 44 41 99.2% 99.3% 99.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2%
Nigeria 37 37 37 90.9% 90.6% 90.3% 3.4% 3.6% 3.9%
Sierra
Leone 7 7 7 72.3% 71.1% 65.8% 6.5% 7.1% 6.8%
Kenya 17 18 18 98.6% 98.6% 98.6% 0.5% 0.6% 0.5%
Uganda 10 10 11 90.7% 91.7% 92.9% 1.9% 0.9% 0.4%
Tanzania 36 37 38 99.1% 99.1% 99.1% 0.2% 0.1% 0.2%
Rwanda 3 3 3 92.6% 92.4% 93.1% 3.0% 3.2% 3.1%
Zambia 2 2 2 98.2% 97.7% 96.8% 0.5% 0.8% 1.1%
Group 425 424 417 87.5% 87.7% 87.9% 3.8% 4.6% 4.6%
PAR>30 PAR>90 PAR>180
------------------------- ------------------------- -------------------------
Jan/22 Feb/22 Mar/22 Jan/22 Feb/22 Mar/22 Jan/22 Feb/22 Mar/22
India (total) 19.3% 17.1% 15.4% 11.6% 9.9% 8.7% 8.2% 6.9% 6.2%
Pakistan 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Sri Lanka 6.6% 6.9% 6.6% 4.0% 4.3% 4.2% 2.8% 2.8% 2.6%
Philippines 2.5% 2.7% 2.8% 1.9% 2.0% 2.1% 0.6% 0.8% 1.2%
Myanmar 1.6% 23.3% 29.8% 1.0% 0.9% 1.0% 0.6% 0.5% 0.5%
Ghana 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1%
Nigeria 5.4% 5.8% 6.2% 3.6% 3.8% 4.0% 2.0% 2.2% 2.3%
Sierra
Leone 8.7% 9.5% 9.5% 5.5% 6.2% 6.8% 2.2% 2.4% 2.7%
Kenya 1.0% 1.1% 1.0% 0.8% 0.8% 0.7% 0.5% 0.5% 0.4%
Uganda 2.9% 2.4% 2.0% 2.8% 2.3% 1.9% 0.9% 1.4% 1.6%
Tanzania 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2%
Rwanda 4.8% 5.1% 5.1% 3.2% 3.3% 3.5% 1.8% 1.9% 2.0%
Zambia 0.8% 1.1% 1.4% 0.5% 0.5% 0.6% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3%
Group 6.4% 6.8% 6.7% 4.0% 3.5% 3.1% 2.6% 2.2% 2.1%
(3) Gross OLP includes the off-book BC and DA model, excluding interest
receivable and before deducting ECL provisions and modification loss.
(4) 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 3% of the Gross OLP.
(5) 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 remained broadly stable (from 6.8% to 6.7%).
-- Credit exposure of the India off-book BC portfolio of USD
33.7m is capped at 5%. The included off-book DA portfolio of USD
1.6m has no credit exposure.
Disbursements vs collections of loans until 31 March 2022
(6)
Countries Oct/21 Nov/21 Dec/21 Jan/22 Feb/22 Mar/22
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------
India 39% 85% 88% 78% 65% 62%
Pakistan 100% 98% 100% 100% 96% 100%
Sri Lanka 86% 100% 113% 70% 115% 122%
The Philippines 90% 90% 81% 80% 93% 104%
Myanmar 73% 90% 95% 99% 99% 116%
Ghana 111% 114% 108% 74% 110% 115%
Nigeria 128% 134% 93% 71% 98% 98%
Sierra Leone 112% 112% 110% 97% 102% 113%
Kenya 96% 103% 55% 95% 101% 113%
Uganda 115% 121% 69% 81% 112% 118%
Tanzania 107% 109% 107% 114% 112% 110%
Rwanda 101% 105% 98% 65% 80% 107%
Zambia 110% 111% 109% 76% 80% 109%
--------------------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -------- --------
(6) Disbursements vs collections refers to actual loan disbursements
made to clients divided by total amounts collected from clients in the
period.
-- Disbursements as percentage of collections exceeded 100% in
10 countries. The decreasing percentage in India was primarily due
to the strategic decision to reduce disbursements.
Development of Clients and Outstanding Loan Portfolio until 31
March 2022
Gross OLP (in
Clients (in thousands) Delta USDm) Delta
Mar/21-Mar/22
Mar/21-Mar/22 CC Feb/22-Mar/22
Countries Mar/21 Feb/22 Mar/22 Mar/21-Mar/22 Feb/22-Mar/22 Mar/21 Feb/22 Mar/22 USD (7) USD
India 737 498 476 -35% -4% 180 107 103 -43% -41% -4%
Pakistan 442 530 541 22% 2% 74 83 83 11% 33% -1%
Sri Lanka 58 52 52 -9% 1% 9 8 6 -37% -7% -29%
The
Philippines 319 295 299 -6% 2% 53 47 47 -11% -5% 0%
Myanmar 131 111 112 -14% 0% 30 21 21 -28% -9% 2%
Ghana 155 161 162 5% 1% 47 44 41 -11% 15% -6%
Nigeria 258 245 241 -6% -2% 33 37 37 13% 23% 0%
Sierra Leone 39 43 42 6% -2% 5 7 7 31% 52% 2%
Kenya 102 120 123 20% 2% 15 18 18 24% 30% 4%
Uganda 83 93 95 15% 1% 8 10 11 29% 26% 5%
Tanzania 133 185 190 43% 3% 24 37 38 59% 60% 3%
Rwanda 18 18 18 -1% -1% 3 3 3 21% 25% 3%
Zambia 7 16 16 133% 4% 0.6 2 2 253% 188% 1%
Total 2,481 2,368 2,368 -5% -0.01% 480 424 417 -13% -3% -2%
(7) Constant currency ('CC') implies conversion of local
currency results to USD with the exchange rate from the beginning
of the period.
-- With the number of clients broadly stable at 2.4m, the
continuing strategic focus in India on only collections and the
currency depreciation in Sri Lanka and, Ghana Gross OLP decreased
to USD 417m (2% lower than in February 2022 and 13% lower than in
March 2021).
Selected moratoriums (8) on loan repayments until 31 March
2022
Clients under moratorium (in
thousands)
As % of Total
Countries Jan/22 Feb/22 Mar/22 Clients
India 205 205 205 43%
Group 205 205 205 9%
Moratorium amounts (USD
thousands)
March Moratoriums As % of Total
Countries Jan/22 Feb/22 Mar/22 as % of OLP Moratoriums
India 25,894 23,730 21,705 21% 100%
Group 25,894 23,730 21,705 5% 100%
(8) 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 43% of clients in India, who accepted to benefit from
the one-time debt restructuring scheme established by the RBI and
confirmed in September 2021. See RBI Covid-19 Restructuring
Guidelines .
-- The moratorium amount across the Group decreased to USD
21.7m, which represents 5 % of the Group's Gross OLP.
Key events in April 2022
-- In Sri Lanka measures have been taken including restricting
loan sizes in order to prevent clients from over-borrowing due to
the economic crisis.
-- Other than the existing partial lockdown and curfews in
Myanmar, 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 21 April 2022.
Please note that, while the Company's operational performance
appears to gradually normalize in most countries except for India
and Myanmar, the risk of additional challenges to our operations
should not be underestimated, due to (i) the still relatively high
infection rates, (ii) the current lack of available vaccines as
well as vaccine hesitancy in most of our operating countries, (iii)
the risk of the introduction of more infectious Covid variants in
our operating countries, 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
About ASA International Group plc
ASA International Group plc (ASAI: LN) 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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