DGAP-News

Ferratum Capital Germany GmbH: Ferratum Group publishes Q1 2021 results - Seite 2

In Q1 2021 the Group's financial performance and results remained affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company continued with its cautious sales and scoring approach in the Ferratum (Near Prime) tribe, in which the Group has, as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, reduced its lending activities since Q1 2020. The Group has selectively increased its risk appetite and marketing activities in the SweepBank tribe which includes Primeloan and the Mobile Wallet as well as in CapitalBox, the Group's SME lending unit. SweepBank and CapitalBox which both have shown substantial growth since Q2 2020 accounted already for 29.8% of the Group's net receivables with EUR 115.4 million at end of Q1 2021.

Improved impairments and profit before taxes at break-even

The Group's revenues came in at EUR 51.9 million, a decrease of 20.9 % (Q1 2020: EUR 65.6 million). The decrease in revenues is a result of the continued effects from the COVID-19 pandemic and the company's earlier decision to discontinue lending in selected markets. The Group has however been able to steadily increase sales and its risk appetite in the SweepBank (Primeloan and Mobile Wallet) and CapitalBox (SME lending) tribes.

Operating profit (EBIT) for the first quarter of 2021 came in at EUR 5.4 million which is an increase of EUR 7.7 million compared to 2020 (Q1 2020 EUR -2.3 million).

The y-o-y EBIT increase of EUR 7.7 million is mainly a result of a decrease in impairments. Impairments stood in Q1 2021 at EUR 16.5 million which corresponds to a reduction of 53.7% compared to Q1 2020 (Q1 2020: EUR 35.6 million, including EUR 7.8 million impairment related to deteriorating macroeconomic forecast) and reflected 31.8 % of revenues. In addition, personnel expenses were down by 13.5 % to EUR 8.6 million (Q1 2020: EUR 10.0 million).

Financial costs (net) decreased from EUR 6.0 million in Q1 2020 to EUR 4.8 million in Q1 2021. The decrease was driven by lower interest expenses and improved FX effects. Profit before income tax was slightly positive at EUR 0.6 million (Q1 2020: EUR -8.3 million).

Balance sheet ratios and financial metrics continued to remain strong

As at the end of Q1 2021, equity stood at EUR 124.9 million (31.12.2020: EUR 125.6 million) and the equity-ratio was at a healthy level of 16.3 % (31.12.2020: 18.6 %). Net debt to equity increased from 2.49 at the end of 2020 to 2.74 as of end of Q1 2021.