FINTECH DELIVERS DOUBLE-DIGIT PROFIT GROWTH
“HIL has delivered a strong set of results with exceptional growth from Weaver Fintech, contributing 92% of the Group’s operating profit. We are pleased that our digital-first approach continues to result in strong financial performance.”
HIL CEO, Sean Wibberley
Salient features:
- Revenue firm at R3.7 billion
- Operating profit up 28% to R619 million
- Fintech revenue up 31% to R1.9 billion
- Fintech profit before tax up 27% to R426 million
- Retail sales 24% lower at R1.2 billion
- Cash collections up 18% to R8.5 billion
- Headline earnings per share up 7.2% to 309.3 cents
- Final dividend declared of 83 cents per share, up 7.8%
Mauritius, 12 March 2024:
HomeChoice International plc (HIL), which offers innovative financial services and retail products to over 2 million, mostly female, customers in South Africa, has reported a 28% growth in operating profit to R619 million for the year ending 31 December 2023. Group profit before tax was up 11% to R394 million, impacted by 79% higher interest costs related to increased borrowings for fintech growth. Headline earnings per share grew by 7.2%. HIL proposed a total dividend of 153 cents per share, 9% up on the prior year.
In 2023, the Group grew its customer base by 39%, disbursed R4.8 billion in loans (up 13%), delivered Buy Now, Pay Later(BNPL) Gross Merchant Value of R1.5 billion (up 104%), wrote R148 million in standalone insurance premiums (up 27%), generated R1.2 billion in retail sales (down 24%) and demonstrated its cash collection capability by collecting R8.5 billion from customers (up 18%).
Innovative products targeting digitally-savvy urban African women
The Group’s businesses operate primarily through digital channels, providing customers with convenience and an excellent customer experience which has led to an increase in customer acquisition, retention and spend. More than 84% of the Group’s transactions are completed through digital channels, resulting in 1.4 million transactions per month, and driving down direct cost per digital transaction by 61% over the past four years.
Weaver Fintech delivers 27% profit growth
Weaver Fintech delivered a step change in growth and profitability, with revenue up 31% to
R1.9 billion and profit before tax up 27% to R426 million. Weaver Fintech offers personal lending, insurance and value-added services through FinChoice, as well as payment solutions and merchant services through PayJustNow. Weaver’s customer base has increased by 72% this year to 1.6 million, with high levels of repeat business. The short-term nature and strong cash yields from the book resulted in customer collections of R6.7 billion in 2023, which is more than 1.5 times the size of its gross debtors’ book.
Weaver Fintech is building a compelling product suite to drive higher customer spend and income diversification. The focus is on cross-selling products across the Weaver eco-system, increasing customer lifetime value and profitability. Currently, fee income accounts for 34% of Weaver Fintech’s total revenue. Key drivers of fee income are BNPL fees and insurance, which includes credit life and the standalone products, funeral and personal accident.
PayJustNow (PJN) is the number one BNPL in South Africa and has experienced significant growth, with its all-digital customer base doubling to 1.3 million in the past year. The company has generated R1.5 billion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV – the customer trade at merchants’ points of sale), with 75% of this coming from repeat customers who use the BNPL solution an average of 1.7 times every three months. PJN has over 2 500 merchant partners, spanning 8 000 points of presence, who benefit from increase in basket size, real-time shopper data and analytics, and high brand awareness through 23 million merchant referrals from the PJN store directory.
Retail’s business re-shaped and now positioned for growth
The Retail business has been reshaped and is now positioned for growth following effective credit strategy changes. The deliberate tightening in credit policy resulted in a 24% reduction in sales in 2023, but greatly improved the quality of customer and book performance. HomeChoice decreased inventory by 29%, and is focusing on its unique heritage bedding and textile lines. However, due to the weaker rand and increased markdowns, the gross profit margin declined to 43.0%. While the company achieved a reduction of 30% in debtor costs and 8% in trading expenses, this could not fully compensate for the lower sales, and caused operating profit to fall by 34% to R52 million. However, the business generated strong cash flow, with R345 million generated from effective working capital management.
The business’ smaller format showrooms have proven popular, with strong footfall, a high cash sales proportion and lower credit risk. Eight were opened in 2023. There are currently 22 showrooms across the country with plans to increase these to 36 in 2024.
Strongly performing credit books, appropriate credit provisioning and healthy cash flows
Weaver Fintech and Retail both strategically tightened credit risk criteria and maintained prudent provision coverage in the challenging consumer environment. Weaver Fintech debtor costs increased by 28%, which was lower than revenue and book growth of 32%. The acquisition of better-quality customers and stricter credit limits successfully reduced Retail debtor costs by 30%.
HIL is highly cash generative with R8.5 billion of cash collected in 2023 off a R6.0 billion gross book. The Group has successfully increased its funding facilities to R3.0 billion. With a sizeable R1.5 billion in cash and undrawn funding facilities, there is ample scope to fund the continuing growth of Weaver Fintech.
“We are thrilled to see the exponential growth in the Fintech customer base and believe there is vast potential to expand the Weaver Fintech product range and cross-sell these products within the growing eco-system. Considerable work has also been done in Retail to turn the business around and this is starting to manifest in improved performance. We believe our continuous investment in product innovation and exceptional digital customer experience are fundamental to this success. We are confident in our vision to achieve our growth ambitions and have sufficient funding to bring it to fruition.”
Executive chair, Shirley Maltz
ends.
NOTE TO EDITORS
HIL is a fast-growing fintech-focused group providing digital consumer financial solutions and products to the mobile-savvy South African consumer, delighting more than 2 million customers across the group. More than 70% of our customers are urban-based African women with 60% of our customers being Millennials or GenZ.
Through the FinChoice and PayJustNow brands, Weaver Fintech offers digital personal lending, payment solutions, value-added services and insurance products using innovative mobile-first platforms. Our omnichannel retailer, HomeChoice, delivers innovative, quality own brands and sought-after external brands across homeware categories. The online channel provides a convenient shopping experience on customers’ mobile phones.
For further enquiries or to set up a media interview contact:
Lydia du Plessis: Investorsense, (+27 (0) 82 491 7583; lydia@investorsense.co.za)