Qred increases income by 90 % first quarter 2020

Qred’s growth in the first quarter of 2020 continued at a rapid pace, despite the difficult developments in the local and global economies. In early March, Qred was named Sweden’s fastest growing company and placed 8th in Europe, alongside global heavyweights, when the Financial Times published their annual list of Europe’s 1000 fastest growing companies.

From mid-March, the situation in the market changed significantly as a result of the pandemic caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus. Qred’s business model is well suited to handle such downturns in the economy without large disruptions to our business.  

“We have been able to mitigate many of the effects caused by the corona virus thanks to our digitalized processes and cloud-based business model. In addition, we have a balanced customer base that extends across many industries, which spreads the risk further, “says Andrea Romander at Qred.

The pandemic has however created uncertainty in the general economy going forward. The company’s customers ability to timely repay issued loans will likely deteriorate. Thus, an additional non-recurring reservation of SEK 32.6 million has been made for expected, but not yet realised, credit losses. During the period, Qred repurchased part of its bond, which generated additional non-recurring revenue of SEK 18.0 m.

January - March 2020

Results for the same period for the previous year are stated in brackets.

• The number of active monthly users increased by 47% to 7 811 (5 318)
• Operating income increased by 90% to SEK 82.3 m (43.4)
• Interest income increased by 26% to SEK 59 m (46.8)
• Commission income amounted to SEK 15.2 m (0.0)
• Operating profit amounted to SEK -12.3 m (7.4)
• Net income for the period amounted to SEK -13.2 m (6,4)
• The loan portfolio increased by 41% to SEK 603.8 m (421.8)

Significant events during the interim period

• The outbreak of the Corona pandemic at the end of the quarter has significantly impacted the business. Restrictions in underwriting policies have resulted in a reduction of issued amounts following the outbreak.
• Additional credit loss reserves of SEK 32.6 m for expected, but not yet confirmed credit losses burdened the period.
• Qred has increased the mediation of customers to third parties, which means that the loans are financed outside Qred's balance sheet. As a result, commission income has increased substantially during the period. The arrangement means that Qred can continue to grow in a scalable manner without increasing the balance sheet.
• Qred has repurchased bonds with a nominal value of EUR 7.3 m. The average purchase price corresponded to 75.75 percent of the nominal value of the bonds. The purchase resulted in an extraordinary income of SEK 18.0 m.

Significant events after the interim period

• Qred has after the end of the interim period repurchased bonds with a nominal value of EUR 4.3 m. The average purchase price corresponded to 79,53 percent of the nominal value of the bonds. The purchase resulted in an extraordinary income of SEK 8.7 m.
• Qred Holding AB (publ) published a bond prospectus and applied for listing of its bonds on Nasdaq Stockholm.
• The Annual General Meeting, which was previously set to be held on May 28, has been moved to June 30, 2020 at 9 am.

To read full report, please visit: https://wp.qred.com/se/investorrelations-en/