Despite challenges People’s Leasing closes 3Q on a commendable note

Monday, 20 March 2023 01:56 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Chairman Pradeep Amirthanayagam

CEO/General Manager Shamindra Marcelline

With a notable quarterly profit of Rs. 959 million for the third quarter of the financial year 2022/23, People’s Leasing and Finance PLC’s Profit After Tax (PAT) for the period ended 31 December 2022 reached Rs. 1,637 million, demonstrating the company’s sustained ability to manage its core drivers in the midst of turbulent times while prudently managing the Assets and Liabilities.

Despite the unfavourable socio-economic outlook prevailing in the country, strengthening top line interest income by an increase of 28.3% is noteworthy. Meantime, the company successfully contained operational costs at a single digit level amidst the country’s growing inflationary situation through digitalisation drive and a multitude of other cost containment efforts unanimously implemented by the companywide staff. The first two quarters had a lower performance owing to the prevailing crisis situation in the country, which had a negative impact on the company. Nevertheless, under the wings of the new leadership, PLC was yet again able to achieve the remarkable third quarter results that would invariably contribute towards progressive year-end results.

Chairman, Pradeep Amirthanayagam said: “Our satisfactory financial performance during a quite challenging period is a quiet reflection of our deep commitment to review existing policies and procedures, re-alignment of our strategies to effectively respond to ever demanding stakeholder concerns and most importantly, the cooperation of our own employees to effectively steer change towards a more resilient workplace.”

CEO Shamindra Marcelline said that a noteworthy PAT is achieved amidst managing the liquidity position of the company while ensuring the well-being of the entire workforce of over 2,000 and uplifting the lives of local communities where they operate, at this milestone juncture.

The company also witnessed a reversal in impairment charges during the quarter compared to significantly high impairment charges during the first six months, reflecting the mutually set untiring efforts and effectively mobilised resources to manage credit risk and improvements made on collections. During the period, the company also managed to exceed the minimum standards imposed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in terms of disbursing capital and offering moratoria, whilst maintaining the Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio well below the industry average.

Being a State-Owned Enterprise (SOE), the company has taken a more inclusive approach in terms of responding to the public and stakeholder concerns when compared to other key players in the Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs) landscape. In fact, the company continued to create more value for stakeholders around the year by driving stakeholder-oriented leadership strategies primarily focusing on strategic risk management, action to accelerate the pace of growth and strengthening the existing policy framework.

“The outlook is extremely challenging. Prevailing inflationary pressure along with increased interest rates are to impact our loan book. In order to offset this impact and to improve our revenues we are proactively exploring different avenues,” Marcelline added.