Ferratum Oyj : Ferratum Group continues its success in first half of 2015
- Revenue for the first half rises by 61.5% to EUR 49.8 million
- Adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increase by 27.5% to EUR 6.8 million; adjusted EBIT margin of 13.6%
- Adjusted earnings before tax (EBT) increase by 55.8% to EUR 5.7 million; Adjusted EBT margin amounts to 11.4%
- Consistent implementation of the growth strategy: entering new countries and diversification of the product portfolio contributed significantly to the positive development
Helsinki/Berlin, August 13, 2015 - Ferratum Oyj (ISIN: FI4000106299, WKN: A1W9NS; together with its consolidated subsidiaries hereinafter "Ferratum Group" or "Ferratum"), an international provider of mobile consumer loans and a pioneer in the field of "financial technology", announced its key financial figures for the first six months of the financial year 2015 today. By achieving significant increase in both revenue and earnings, Ferratum reports that it has had a very successful first half of 2015. The development of revenues in the quarter reflects the overall positive business development since the beginning of 2014.
"After revenues of EUR 23.0 million in the first quarter, we continued our growth by posting EUR 26.8 million in revenues in the second quarter of 2015. On a quarterly basis, we have thus grown in terms of revenues for the sixth consecutive time. Compared to last year, this equates to an outstanding 65.4% growth in revenues in the second quarter", says Dr. Clemens Krause, CFO of Ferratum Group. In fact, the pace of growth also increased: The average growth rate per quarter from the second quarter of 2014 to the second quarter of 2015 reached 13.4% (Q1 2014 to Q1 2015: 12.0%).
This positive development is also reflected in total revenue for the reporting period: In the first half of 2015, the revenues of Ferratum Group increased significantly by a total of 61.5% to EUR 49.8 million (H1 2014: EUR 30.8 million). Due to the increase of customer receivables during the reporting period in the amount of EUR 81.0 million (12/2014: EUR 61.5 million) risk provisioning also increased from EUR 9.5 million to EUR 16.4 million. Operating costs rose significantly from EUR 16.3 million in the reporting period of the previous year to EUR 27.1 million in the first half of 2015. This figure includes the costs of EUR 0.5 million associated with the IPO. Increased marketing and selling expenses that amounted to EUR 6.8 million (H1 2014: EUR 3.9 million) in the reporting period were also partially responsible for the significant increase. In line with this development, Ferratum posted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of EUR 6.8 million adjusted for non-recurring IPO expenses with its business operations. This corresponds to an adjusted EBIT margin of 13.6%. Taking the IPO costs into consideration, EBIT rose by 18.3% to EUR 6.3 million (H1 2014: EUR 5.3 million). This resulted in an EBIT margin of 12.6% (H1 2014: 17.2%). After taking the net financial charges into account, adjusted earnings before tax (EBT) increased by 55.8% to EUR 5.7 million (EUR 5.2 million after IPO costs; H1 2014: EUR 3.6 million). The adjusted EBT margin was 11.4% (10.4% after IPO costs; H1 2014: 11.8%). As a result, adjusted net income increased significantly by a total of 67.1% to EUR 5.0 million (EUR 4.6 million after IPO costs) following EUR 3.0 million in the first half of 2014. With 21,577,750 shares issued (excluding treasury shares), undiluted (basic) earnings per share amounted to EUR 0.22 (H1 2014: EUR 0.16) at the end of the reporting period. "With an adjusted EBIT margin of 13.6%, we are still very profitable - and that despite numerous measures aimed at accelerating growth in the current financial year", commented Dr. Clemens Krause.
Ferratum's consistent implementation of its growth strategy can be considered the key to its positive business development. The company continued its geographic expansion during the reporting period by entering the markets in Canada, Norway and France. Ferratum currently operates in 22 countries around the world. The business is to be expanded to 30 countries in the medium term. The company also managed to achieve important milestones during the first half of 2015 with respect to diversification of its product portfolio: Its PlusLoan product is currently being offered in nine countries, the Credit Limit product range is already available to customers in six countries. Mr. Jorma Jokela, the founder and CEO of Ferratum Group, explains the strategy as follows: "With these two credit products, we can offer customers higher lending amounts and longer terms and thus increase revenue per customer. While the revenue from business with classic microcredits grew by 23% in the reporting period, we are seeing growth rates of 202% and 201% with the PlusLoan and Credit Limit products. Together, these two products now contribute 40% of total sales." In addition, Ferratum continued to drive product diversification by commencing the business of its new division "Ferratum Business" in the second quarter of 2015. This allows small established companies with a minimum of a two year successful track record to apply for loans in Finland and Sweden.
Jorma Jokela draws a positive conclusion and looks optimistically to the future: "We have successfully leveraged our expertise and competitive strength with Big Data scoring, slim online processes, speed and our many years of expertise to develop our business. This means that we can today also offer smaller companies loans. In business with private customers, we were able to continue to grow and now serve 1.1 million customers. We continued at full speed with our preparations on introducing other mobile banking services and the related development of the company to become a mobile bank. We expect the launch to take place as scheduled in the second half of 2015."
The full-length English-language report on the first six months of 2015 is as of today available for downloading from the website under
www.ferratumgroup.com in the "Investor Relations" section.
About Ferratum Group:The Finnish Ferratum Group, a pioneer for mobile consumer loans in Europe, offers short-term consumer loans for private persons. Ferratum's customers can utilize digital media to apply for consumer credit in amounts varying between EUR 25 and EUR 2,000. Moreover, Ferratum offers successful small businesses installment loans with a term of six to twelve months. Managed by its founder Jorma Jokela, Ferratum has expanded rapidly since it was founded in 2005: Ferratum has 1.1 million active and former customers who have been granted one or more loans in the past and 3.2 million total user accounts in its database (as of 30 June 2015). Ferratum is represented in 22 markets and employed 383 people as of 31 December 2014.
Contacts:Ferratum Group
Dr. Clemens Krause, CFO
T: +49 30 88715308
F: +49 30 88715309
M:
[email protected]Ferratum Group
Paul Wasastjerna
Head of Investor Relations
T: +358 40 7248247
F: +358 20 741 1614
M:
[email protected]cometis AG
Henryk Deter | Mariana Kuhn
T: +49 611 20 58 55-61
F: +49 611 20 58 55-66
M:
[email protected]