By SOLWEZI TODAY REPORTER
IZWE Loans Zambia Plc has posted increased profits after tax of K111.2 million during its period ending December 31, 2021, mainly driven by an increase in loans disbursements.
According to Izwe’s audited results for the period ended December 31 revealed a rise in its profitability to K111.2 million last year.
This is up from just K48.8 million in profit after tax in 2020, representing an astounding 128 per cent increase.
The company’s loans and advances soared to a cumulative amount of K712 million last year, up from around K612 million in 2020, representing a 16 per cent rise.
“Izwe’s performance in the year was a significant improvement on the prior year, driven by an increase in loans disbursed, a reduction in the weighted average cost of funding and a focus on strong management of operating costs.
“As a result, Izwe achieved a 128 per cent increase in year-on-year profit after tax, from K48.8 million in 2020 to K111.2 million in 2021. Gross revenue incurred a marginal reduction of 4 per cent when compared with 2020 at K342.1 million. This was due to the pass-on effects on product pricing following the access to concessional funding,” Izwe’s Chief Executive Officer Kulusu Chisola said in a statement issued recently.
He added that the company also experienced fewer losses on loans, helping to contribute to its overall strong financial performance.
“Operating expenses for the year reduced by 19 per cent from prior year expenditure of K123.4 million to K100.2 million in 2021 as the business had begun to realize the benefits of its operating strategic changes that were introduced in the prior year.
“There was an improvement in the impairment loss on loans from an expense of K8.4 million in 2020 to a credit of K15.7 million in 2021. This improvement was largely driven by the improved collections from customers through Government remittances and an improvement in the underlying credit quality of our loan book,” said Chisola.
“The overall good performance for the year resulted in a year-on-year increase in Earnings Per Share (EPS) from K0.47 recorded in 2020 to K1.07 in 2021.”
