“We are continuing to grow faster than the market in all countries. And we are also growing profitably; operating profit for the quarter increased 10 per cent to SEK 374 million.” Kenneth Nilsson, CEO Resurs Holding AB
1 April—30 June 2018*
- Lending to the public rose 19% to SEK 26,626 million
- Operating income increased 13% to SEK 868 million
- Operating profit increased 10% to SEK 374 million
- Earnings per share rose 10% to SEK 1.44
- C/I before credit losses (excl. Insurance) was 41.6% (42.1%)
- The credit loss ratio was 2.0% (1.8%)
1 January—30 June 2018*
- Lending to the public rose 19% to SEK 26,626 million
- Operating income increased 10% to SEK 1,673 million
- Operating profit increased 9% to SEK 718 million
- Earnings per share rose 9% to SEK 2.77
- C/I before credit losses (excl. Insurance) was 41.2% (42.4%)
- The credit loss ratio was 2.0% (1.8%)
- The Board proposes a dividend of SEK 1.65 per share for the half-year, up 10% compared with the half-year dividend in the autumn of 2017 where SEK 1.50 per share was paid out.
Statement by the CEO
This is our tenth interim report since Resurs Holding was listed on 29 April 2016. It is also the tenth consecutive report in which we have delivered on or above our financial targets. Lending rose 19 per cent to SEK 26.6 billion. This strong growth was driven by both the banking segment and all geographic markets and is well in line with our financial target of lending growth of more than 10 per cent.
We are continuing to grow faster than the market in all countries and thus continuing to successively increase our market shares. We are also growing profitably; operating profit for the quarter increased 10 per cent to SEK 374 million.
Continued focus on digitisation
We are continuing to develop products and solutions to help our retail finance partners meet customers’ changed purchasing patterns and drive sales. We launched Resurs Checkout also in physical stores during the quarter with excellent results and our retail finance partners showed widespread interest in this service.
For most of our customers, the mobile telephone has become the most important digital platform. For this reason, we are developing the “Resurs Bank” app featuring a user-friendly interface for customers to use all of our services themselves. The aim is that the app will be launched in Sweden in the third quarter of 2018 and then be rolled out in our other markets.
We launched our proprietary credit engine in Sweden during the quarter, which quickly generated positive results for our customers and thus also our growth. The credit engine offers a simpler and more automated application process for customers and provides us with better conditions to analyse and enhance the efficiency of credit lending. It has already been launched in Finland and Norway with positive results. The credit engine also enhances internal efficiency since we can handle a higher number of applications without needing to increase staffing levels.
Brand initiatives and several new retail finance partners
We initiated work on further strengthening the Resurs brand in 2017. We want to raise awareness about Resurs and what we stand for. The first tangible result is our updated website that was launched in Sweden during the quarter and we will increase our media presence towards the end of the summer. These brand initiatives were charged to expenses in the quarter.
We received additional confirmation during the quarter that our products, solutions and service are appreciated in the market when we initiated collaborations with several new retail finance partners, both physical stores such as all of Beijer Bygg’s stores in Sweden and pure e-commerce players such as Ellos’s new brand Homeroom. More than 30 per cent of our sales in retail finance in the first half of 2018 were from e-commerce.
GDPR and PSD2 completed
During the quarter, we completed our work on two important regulatory projects, GDPR and PSD2, which aim to strengthen consumer protection and privacy. We are positive to the new legislation and have adapted our operations to the new regulations. Now that the projects have been completed, resources have been freed up to continue to develop innovative products and services that create value for our customers and retail finance partners.
Overall, the second quarter represented a very positive continuation to 2018 with strong profitable growth. We are gradually becoming larger and stronger in a continuously growing market – and we look forward to continuing to capture market shares in the second half of 2018.
Kenneth Nilsson,
CEO Resurs Holding AB
For additional information:
Peter Rosén, CFO & Head of IR, peter.rosen@resurs.se +46 736 56 49 34
Sofie Tarring, IR-Officer, sofie.tarring@resurs.se +46 736 44 33 95
About Resurs Holding:
Resurs Holding (Resurs), which operates through the subsidiaries Resurs Bank and Solid Försäkring, is the leader in retail finance in the Nordic region, offering payment solutions, consumer loans and niche insurance products. Since its start in 1977, Resurs Bank has established itself as a leading partner for sales-driven payment and loyalty solutions in retail and e-commerce, and Resurs has thus built a customer base of approximately 5.7 million private customers in the Nordics. Resurs Bank has had a banking licence since 2001 and is under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. The Resurs Group operates in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. At the end of the second quarter of 2018, the Group had 819 employees and a loan portfolio of SEK 26.6 billion. Resurs is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.
* Certain performance measures provided in this section have not been prepared in accordance with IFRS or the capital adequacy rules, meaning that they are alternative performance measures. Calculations and reconciliation against information in the financial statements of these performance measures are provided on the website under “Financial information.” Definitions of performance measures are provided on page 31. The figures in parentheses refer to 30 June 2017 in terms of financial position, and to the year-earlier period in terms of profit/loss items.
This information is information that Resurs Holding AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Securities Markets Act. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 07:30 a.m CET on 24 July 2018.