1 October—31 December 2017*
- Lending to the public rose 14% to SEK 24,069 million
- Operating income increased 17% to SEK 808 million
- Operating profit increased 35% to SEK 371 million
- Earnings per share rose 18% to SEK 1.45
- C/I before credit losses (excl. Insurance) was 39.4% (43.8%)
- The credit loss ratio was 1.9% (1.8%)
1 January—31 December 2017*
- Lending to the public rose 14% to SEK 24,069 million
- Operating income increased 11% to SEK 3,091 million
- Operating profit increased 23% to SEK 1,397 million
- Earnings per share rose 19% to SEK 5.40
- C/I before credit losses (excl. Insurance) was 40.8% (44.7%)
- The credit loss ratio was 1.8% (1.9%)
- The Board proposes a dividend of SEK 3.30 per share for the full-year, of which SEK 1.50 per share was paid in November 2017. This represents an increase of 10% compared with the dividend paid in 2016.
Statement by the CEO
Strong end to 2017 – continued profitable growth and new retail finance partners
2017 ended with another successful quarter. Lending amounted to SEK 24.1 billion, up 14 per cent in 2017, meaning SEK 2.9 billion in absolute terms. We can also present the best profit after tax for a quarter in our 40-year history – we achieved SEK 289 million, an increase of 18 per cent. This means that we reported profit after tax of more than SEK 1 billion in 2017. We achieved this by continuing to generate profitable growth, through our scalability which enabled C/I before credit losses to continue to improve despite increased IT investments, and by retaining good control of our credit losses.
The growth in the loan portfolio remained strong in both our banking segments and in all of our markets. This was achieved despite having to make adjustments to the new regulations in the Norwegian market, which, as anticipated, slowed lending growth in Consumer Loans in Norway. We were aware of this and thus we focused on increasing the rate of growth in our other markets, which shows the strength of our Nordic business model.
Enhanced financial targets
Over the eight quarters that Resurs Holding has been listed, we have delivered on or exceeded all of our financial targets in all quarters. We adjusted three of our targets at the end of 2017 given that we have continuously met our targets.
We increased our target for lending growth from about 10 per cent to exceed 10 per cent. We also saw a faster positive trend for our C/I ratio (before credit losses and excluding Insurance) and the target was adjusted from 40 per cent to be below 40 per cent. The risk-adjusted NBI margin was also introduced to be in line with the levels of recent years, meaning 10 to 12 per cent.
Successful performance of the operations continues
We entered into a number of collaborations with new retail finance partners during the quarter, such as expanding the collaboration with our existing partner Upgraded to now include Elgiganten in all Nordic countries. It means that, for example, customers can pay a monthly fee to upgrade their Apple products to newer models every year.
We continuously work on launching new and innovative solutions for our retail finance partners and customers. Earlier in the year, we launched our digital credit application in physical stores and its usage is already at more than 70 per cent in Sweden.
We also see that the digital tools that we have successfully introduced to our Business Support have simplified and improved the efficiency of our processors. For example, more than one-third of all sales of our Supreme Card now take place by incoming telephone call, which has reduced our acquisition costs.
Seamless retail – the future way of consuming
Our omnichannel strategy means that we offer efficient payment solutions regardless of channel. Consumers are to be able to move from a retail finance partner’s physical store to the e-commerce store or the other way round. Seamless retail is the future way of consuming and we work continuously to develop our offering. One-third of the retail finance partners who joined us during the year operate in the omnichannel.
All in all, we are very strong for the future, we are well-organised and structured to continue expand our operations.
Kenneth Nilsson,
CEO Resurs Holding AB
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 more than 5.5 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 2017, the Group had 763 employees and a loan portfolio of SEK 24.1 billion. Resurs is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, Large Cap.
*Certain performance measures provided in this section have not been prepared in accordance with IFRS. Definitions of performance measures are provided on page 30. The reasons for using alternative performance measures and reconciliation against information in the financial statements are provided on the website under Financial statements. The figures in parentheses refer to 31 December 2016 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. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, on 6 February at 7:30 a.m CET.