Net customer loans and investments up 34% year on year to over 2.2 billion euro, with SME component on the rise
The result confirms the significant growth trajectory expected in profit for the year 2021
22 June 2021: presentation of the new 2021-25 STRATEGIC PLAN
- Assets at 4.3 billion euro (3 billion euro at 1Q20) with net customer loans and investments exceeding 2.2 billion euro (+34% y/y)
- SME Division:net loans to customers at 869 million euro at the end of March 2021 (+56% y/y) with all business units making a positive contribution
- DCIS Division: stock of loans and investments rising by 28% year on year to 1.3 billion euro at the end of March 2021
- Direct Bank Division: illimitybank.com's direct customer funding at 1.2 billion euro (+42% y/y). HYPE customers increased to 1.4 million (+26% y/y)
- Liquidity of 1 billion euro and a robust capital base, with a CET1 ratio of 17.6% (18.0% pro-forma)
MILAN, Italy, May 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via InvestorWire-Chaired by Rosalba Casiraghi, the Board of Directors of illimity Bank S.p.A. ("illimity" or the "Bank") yesterday approved the illimity Group's results as of March 31, 2021.
illimity reported robust results in the quarter ended March 31, 2021, continuing the positive performance achieved in 2020 and posting a net profit of 12.6 million euro, its best quarterly result ever and a figure almost three times higher than that achieved in the first quarter of 2020 (4.5 million euro) and about twice the amount reported in the previous quarter (6.8 million euro).
Assets stood at over 4.3 billion euro on March 31, a 5% increase over the previous quarter and 41% up on the figure of 3 billion euro posted on March 31, 2020. The total includes net customer loans and investments of 2.2 billion euro on March 31, 2021, a rise of 34% over the balance of 1.7 billion euro at the corresponding date in 2020 and slightly up (by 1%) over the previous quarter, despite the sale of positions and discounted payoff transactions.
The rise in volumes in the quarter was driven by the SME Division, whose net customer loans grew by 6% over the end of December 2020 (+56% compared to 31 March 2020) to reach 869 million euro at the end of March 2021. The acceleration in the growth of the business, which began in the second half of 2020, also continued decisively in the first quarter of 2021, with a positive contribution arriving from all business sectors - Factoring, Crossover and Acquisition Finance and Turnaround - and benefiting from the strong demand for the state-backed loans introduced by government decrees issued as part of the pandemic crisis. The SME Division also posted profits of approximately 3 million euro in the quarter earned on credit revaluation events deriving from Turnaround transactions. In the quarter the Division posted a pre-tax profit of 4.7 million euro.
The quality of illimity's asset portfolio remains solid, with no significant impairment occurring in the SME Division's net customer loans. Total gross organic non-performing loans as of March 31, 2021 accordingly fell to 35.9 million euro (from 37.4 million euro at December 31, 2020), almost all of which arising from the business portfolio of the former Banca Interprovinciale network, while the ratio of these to total gross organic customer loans decreased to 3.0% at 31 March 2021 compared to 3.2% at the end of December 2020 and 4.2% at the end of March 2020. At the end of March 2021, loans with moratorium amounted to 49 million euro, down significantly from the December 2020 figure of 65 million euro (and compared to a peak amount requested during 2020 of 86 million euro).
The first quarter of the year is usually characterised by a somewhat sluggish dynamic of transactions on the distressed loan market. As a result of this seasonality, volumes in the DCIS Division remained more or less unchanged over the quarter ended March 31, 2021, closing at 1.3 billion euro, also due to the effect of sale of positions and discounted payoff transactions. On the basis of a solid pipeline of potential transactions, which can be estimated in around 260 million euro, a gradual acceleration is expected to be seen this year in the division's investment activity over the next few months. Operating trends remained very strong with gross cash flows exceeding expectations. The Bank continued its dynamic management strategy on existing portfolios in this quarter too, posting additional profits from disposals and closed positions of 9.5 million euro. In the quarter the division posted a pre-tax profit of 31.4 million euro.
Total assets managed by neprix, the illimity Group's platform specialising in servicing distressed corporate loans, stood at 9.0 billion euro on 31 March 31, 2021 in terms of the gross book value ("GBV") of the loans serviced and the real estate assets and capital goods held for sale.
At the end of March 2021, direct customer funding remained stable at approximately 2.4 billion euro compared to the December 2020 figure and up by 36% year on year. Within this total, illimitybank.com's funding reached 1.2 billion euro as of March 2021, up 7% on the previous quarter (and +42% y/y). Funding through Raisin, pan-European deposit platform, stood at 492 million euro, a 20% advance quarter on quarter (+27% y/y). Corporate customer funding on a quarterly basis declined to 719 million euro (-17% q/q, +35% y/y).
It is recalled that in December 2020 illimity made its debut on the bond market with the issue of its first senior preferred bond worth 300 million euro, with a maturity of three years and a coupon of 3.375%. Overall, illimity's total sources of funding as of March 31, 2021 stood at 3.5 billioneuro, up approximately 3% on the December 2020 figure and 47% year on year.
Also, as the result of the above-mentioned bond placement, liquidity consisting of cash, the net interbank position, high-quality liquid assets and other marketable securities - to be used to service the business growth planned for 2021 - remained at excellent levels and totalled approximately 1 billion euro at 31 March 2021.
Alongside its solid economic and capital results, illimity carried out two important strategic initiatives in the first quarter of 2021. On January 1, 2021 the Bank concluded the acquisition of an investment of 50% in HYPE, a leading player in the Italian market for mobile-based financial services platforms. HYPE recorded a significant growth in customer numbers, up 26% year on year to 1.4 million. Starting this quarter, therefore, illimity is recognising its jointinvestment in HYPE in its consolidated financial statements using the equity method, leading to a carrying amount of 85.6 million euro as of March 31, 2021.
During the quarter illimity SGR completed work on the launch of its inaugural fund "illimity Credit & Corporate Turnaround", whose first closing was announced on April 1, 2021 at a gross amount of more than 200 million euro. It is a contribution fund dedicated to investments in Unlikely To Pay ("UTP") loans due from SMEs with turnaround prospects. This launch consolidates illimity's market positioning in the UTP sector, a segment where the Bank is already playing a leading role through its investment in single name and portfolios exposures through its DCIS and SME Divisions.
The increase in assets, together with the effects arising from the consolidation of the investment in HYPE, led to a rise in risk-weighted assets (RWAs), which at the end of March 2021 stood at 3,018 million euro, up by 6% over the figure of 2,851 million euro at the end of 2020 and by 29% over the same period in 2020.
Lastly, CET1 capital rose to approximately 530 million euro at the end of the first quarter of 2021 compared to 509 million euro at the end of December 2020 (439 million euro at March 2020), mostly as the result of the net profit for the quarter.
These factors led the continuation of a robust CET1 ratio, which ended March 2021 at 17.6%. On the basis of unchanged assets, the Bank's pro-forma CET1 ratio, meaning that including special shares of 14.4 million euro, stood at 18.0%.
"We are very satisfied about the start of 2021. The growth of our lending activity, the quality of our portfolios, the scale effect that is now emerging in various areas of our business and the resulting economic performance all confirm the choices we have made so far," said illimity CEO Corrado Passera. "In recent months, very promising activities have been launched in Open Banking (HYPE) and asset management (illimity SGR). A number of strategic developments not initially foreseen are also emerging and will be presented on June 22 with the update of our Strategic Plan."
For further information:
Investor Relations
Silvia Benzi: +39.349.7846537 - +44.7741.464948 - silvia.benzi@illimity.com
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