Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation Announces Q1/2020 Results

TORONTO, May 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation (the “Corporation”) (TSX FC, FC.DB.E, FC.DB.F, FC.DB.G, FC.DB,H, FC.DB.I and FC.DB.J) released its financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2020.

Q1/2020 HIGHLIGHTS

• Income for the quarter decreased by 5.3% to $6.24 million as compared to $6.59 million reported for the same period in 2019.
• The investment portfolio as at March 31, 2020 increased by $40.2 million to $521.1 million in comparison to $480.9 million as at December 31, 2019 (gross of provision).
• Profit for the quarter represents an annualized return on shareholders’ equity of 7.88%.

INCOME
For the three-month period ended March 31, 2020, income decreased by 5.3% to $6,236,442 as compared to $6,588,877 reported for the three months ended March 31, 2019.  The decrease is mainly a result of lower interest income due to a smaller average portfolio size (on average $40 million lower in the first quarter of 2020 vs the first quarter of 2019) and a lower weighted average portfolio interest rate, over the comparable period in 2019.  The decrease in the Bank prime rate during the quarter from 3.95% to 2.45% per annum, impacted the Corporation’s investment portfolio weighted average interest rate, which decreased from 8.58% at March 31, 2019 to 8.05% at March 31, 2020.  Several of the Corporation’s investments have a Bank prime based interest rate formula.

Basic weighted average profit per share for the three months ended March 31, 2020, was $0.218 compared to the $0.246 per share reported for the three months ended March 31, 2019.

PORTFOLIO
The Corporation’s investment portfolio (the “Investment Portfolio”) increased by $40.2 million to $521.1 million as at March 31, 2020, in comparison to $480.9 million as at December 31, 2019 (in each case, gross of impairment provision). The impairment provision as at March 31, 2020 was $5.51 million (December 2019 - $5.48 million).  There was a strong level of new investment funding during the first quarter of 2020 in the amount of $141.4 million (2019 – $51.7 million), while repayments were at $101.2 million (2019 – $23.0 million), resulting in an increase to the Investment Portfolio size.