(Oslo, 2019-11-06) B2Holding today reports all-time high gross cash collection and cash EBITDA combined with reductions in leverage and cost to collect.
“This was a quarter of progress for B2Holding. We initiated several actions to improve our handling of the secured portfolio, in order to realize the underlying value we see here. At the same time, our unsecured portfolio continued to perform well. Moving forward, our ambition is to create shareholder value based on our substantial European position built over the past years,” said Erik J. Johnsen, CEO of B2Holding ASA.
Third quarter financial highlights:
* Gross cash collection of NOK 1,386 million (1,022)
- up 36% y-o-y
* Operating profit of NOK 387 million (370)
- up 5% y-o-y
* Cash EBITDA of NOK 1,062 million (778)
- up 37% y-o-y
* ERC at end of month NOK 24,708 million (20,608)
- up 20% y-o-y
(Comparable numbers for Q3 2018 in brackets)
B2Holding had total operating revenues of NOK 880 million in the third quarter, an increase of 18 per cent from the same quarter last year. Gross cash collection increased by 36 per cent to NOK 1,386 million.
Cash EBITDA was NOK 1,062 million, an increase of 37 per cent compared to the third quarter 2018, while operating profit (EBIT) increased 5 per cent to NOK 387 million.
Profit after tax was NOK 181 million, an increase of 14 per cent, leading to earnings per share of NOK 0.44, compared to 0.39 in the third quarter last year.
Leverage Ratio at end of the quarter was 3.0x, down from 3.3x last year, verifying a solid debt service capacity. There was also a positive development in the ratios covered by the bank waiver: equity ratio at 24.2 per cent and Total Loan to Value at 75.4 per cent at the end of the quarter.
B2Holding invested NOK 1,231 million in new portfolios in third quarter. The portfolios were mainly purchased in Northern Europe, and 80 per cent of the purchases in the quarter were unsecured portfolios. B2Holding has acquired portfolios totalling NOK 3.5 billion in 2019, including the Group’s share of portfolios acquired and held in joint ventures, and grown the total gross ERC by 20 per cent to approximately NOK 24.7 billion.
B2Holding continues to improve operations, and cost to collect was down 2.2 percentage points from 24.6 per cent to 22.4 per cent, with potential for further reduction going forward.
At the end of the third quarter, B2Holding has NOK 1.8 billion available for investments, adjusted for deferred payment for portfolio purchases of NOK 153 million, in addition to a strong operating cash flow from collections of purchased loan portfolios.
Going forward, B2Holding sees a strong pipeline of both secured and unsecured portfolios. The Group will continue to evaluate more co-investments in existing markets, which is expected to increase revenue from Asset Under Management (AUM).
For further information, please see the Q3 2019 presentation and report attached.
Definitions of alternative performance measures can be found in the report and presentation.
The documents are also available on the Company's website: http://www.b2holding.no
The results will be presented today, Wednesday 6 November at 08:30 CET, and a webcast of the presentation can be viewed here: https://webtv.hegnar.no/presentation.php?webcastId=98164531
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
Attachments:
B2Holding ASA Third quarter presentation 2019
B2Holding ASA Third quarter report 2019
