Fitch Ratings has revised the national long-term rating of Abans Finance PLC (AFP), a member of the Abans Group, from ‘BB+(lka)’ to ‘A (lka)’ following a revision of the National long term rating of the parent company, Abans PLC, from ‘BBB+ (lka)’ to ‘AA (lka)’.
AFP recorded a strong performance for the first half of FY 20 / 21 amidst the challenging economic landscape due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has recorded a net profit after tax of Rs. 63.6 million for the 1H of FY20/21 period ended 31 September 2020, compared to Rs. 27.7 million recorded in the corresponding year, achieving a YoY growth of 130%.
Despite adhering to CBSL debt moratorium guidelines and taking a day one loss on first moratorium, the aforesaid performance is attributable to the re-strategised activities which includes, timely replacement of new facilities with a time-tested asset backed new portfolio, company’s technology driven recovery and lending practices, which were more resilient during the COVID-19 period, and improved cost efficiencies implemented across the organisation.
Further diversification of the lending portfolio into various sectors and geographic areas together with strategies used in managing the concentration risk has further stabilised the quality of the lending portfolio and facilitated in maintaining a healthy liquidity position.
Despite the economic turbulence and the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is in line to record a comparatively higher sustainable profit in 2020/2021 financial year.