Resurs Holding Year-end Report January—December 2018

“We ended 2018 with continued profitable growth and a strong trend in underlying earnings. All in all for 2018, we can present our best ever full-year earnings and we delivered on or over all financial targets.” Kenneth Nilsson, CEO Resurs Holding AB

1 October—31 December 2018*

• Lending to the public rose 16% to SEK 27,957 million
• Operating income increased 9% to SEK 883 million
• Operating profit increased 1% to SEK 375 million
• Earnings per share fell 2% to SEK 1.42
• C/I before credit losses (excl. Insurance) was 40.7% (39.4%)
• The credit loss ratio was 2.0% (1.9%)

1 January—31 December 2018*

• Lending to the public rose 16% to SEK 27,957 million
• Operating income increased 11% to SEK 3,437 million
• Operating profit increased 6% to SEK 1,487 million
• Earnings per share rose 6% to SEK 5.72
• C/I before credit losses (excl. Insurance) was 40.5% (40.8%)
• The credit loss ratio was 2.1% (1.8%)
• The Board proposes a full-year dividend of SEK 3.60 SEK per share, of which SEK 1.65 was paid in October 2018. This represents an increase of 9% compared with the dividend in 2017

Statement by the CEO

We ended 2018 with continued profitable growth and a strong trend in underlying earnings. Lending rose 16 per cent year-on-year to SEK 28 billion. Growth remained strong in both banking segments and in all geographic markets. We are growing faster than the market and thus continuing to successively increase our market shares.

However, earnings in the fourth quarter were burdened by the major turmoil in the capital markets, which led to a negative trend in our equities and bond portfolios. We also incurred expenses of about SEK 10 million associated to completing the merger with yA Bank. Adjusted for these effects, operating profit increased 9 per cent compared with the year-earlier quarter.

For the full-year 2018 we can present our best ever earnings and we delivered on or above all of our financial targets. We achieved this due to our profitable growth that is based on responsible credit lending and takes place with continued good cost control. The scalability of the operations has meant that the cost/income ratio has continued to improve despite higher investments in marketing and IT.

New digital solutions generated positive growth for the company

Our three segments performed well during the quarter, largely driven by the digital solutions that were launched during the year. In retail finance, we received a positive response to our Click & Collect omni-channel solution that we launched in the third quarter and we are engaged in dialogue with several new retailers that have shown an interest in this service. In Supreme Card, we can already see positive results of our work on artificial intelligence (AI) launched in the autumn. The algorithms mean that we can more quickly and with better precision identify behaviour patterns among our existing customers and thus tailor attractive activities and offers. We will refine these algorithms and work methodology in 2019 and implement AI in other parts of the business.

Our proprietary credit engine made a strong contribution to growth in Consumer Loans. In the third quarter of 2018, we adjusted the pricing in the credit engine in Sweden and, as expected, this led to rising margins on new lending. At the same time, the segment’s total NBI margin was negatively impacted by mix changes. Insurance continued its stable performance. In the autumn, we invested in a new technical platform that creates better conditions for Insurance to further strengthen its position in Norway.

We are driven by launching innovative solutions that create value for our retail finance partners and customers. We launched the Resurs Bank app during the quarter that makes everyday life easier for customers, such as paying invoices easily. With this launch, we are further optimising the customer journey and enhancing the customer experience when banking with us, or when shopping with one of our retail finance partners.

Strategic initiatives strengthen capital position

During the year, we worked on a number of strategic initiatives to optimise our capital and liquidity situation. Implementing the merger with yA Bank strengthened our capital position since our regulatory capital requirements were reduced by about one percentage point.

We also signed forward flow agreements with three credit management companies, enabling them to recover some of our delinquent receivables, starting from January 2019. Selling the receivables will accelerate the cash flow, thus reducing our risk exposure. The transfers positively impact our capital and liquidity situation.

In the fourth quarter we also launched a deposit offering in Germany in collaboration with Raisin, the largest deposit platform in the German market. With deposits in EUR, we are taking a further step toward even more diversified and strengthened financing.

Overall, the fourth quarter marked a strong end to 2018 with profitable growth, continued development of innovative solutions and a strengthened capital position. But none of this would be possible without our employees, whose skills and commitment contribute to our success every day. All in all, we are in a strong position to continue our profitable growth in 2019.

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 5.9 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 2018, the Group had 765 employees and a loan portfolio of SEK 28 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 reports.” Definitions of key ratios are provided on the website under “Financial data.” The figures in parentheses refer to 31 December 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. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 07:30 CET on 5 February 2019.

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