People’s Leasing & Finance posts highest ever profit of Rs. 4.6 b in FY22

People’s Leasing & Finance Chairman Sujeewa Rajapakse

CEO Shamindra Marcelline

Despite uncertainties and many challenges, People’s Leasing & Finance, the trusted leader in Sri Lanka’s Non-Banking Financial Institution (NBFI) sector, has once again created history by concluding the Financial Year (FY) 2021/22 with a record-breaking Profit-After-Tax (PAT) of Rs. 4.66 billion, the highest evert, since its inception in 1996.

In a statement PLC said the PAT has witnessed a remarkable Year-on-Year growth of 15.5% while the Profit-Before-Tax (PBT) is recorded as Rs. 6.65 billion, representing impressive Year-on-Year growth of 13.2%.

CEO Shamindra Marcelline said: “Our ground-breaking financial performance during the FY 2021/2022 is a reflection of employee commitment, alignment of strategies to address stakeholder concerns, and restatement of policies and procedures to ensure a conducive operating environment. The year, akin to the previous year, brought daunting challenges amid the third wave of COVID-19 that weighed down the performance of the country’s macroeconomic indicators leading to a difficult environment for businesses to operate. However, as a Company, we overcame these challenges and recorded historical financial performance.”

Marcelline noted that the impressive PAT is also achieved whilst ensuring the well-being of its internal staff of over 2,000, and the local community in this difficult juncture.

The Company’s non-performing assets ratio witnessed a decline reflecting the efforts and resources channelled to managing credit risk and improving recoveries. Impairment charges on loans and receivables declined by 37.2% from Rs. 1,044 million to Rs. 656 million.

During this period, the Company managed to stay above the requirements imposed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in terms of capital and moratoria, whilst maintaining Non - Performing Loans (NPL) ratio well below the industry average.

Further, the Company kept on creating value for its stakeholders throughout the year by adopting stakeholder-focused leadership that mainly targets risk management, measures to accelerate growth momentum, and strengthening policy framework.

Marcelline stated, “The outlook appears to be extremely challenging for the Company. Prevailing inflationary pressure along with increased policy rates are expected to impact the loan book of the Company. To offset this impact, we would be looking at alternate avenues to generate revenue."

 The Company remained supportive of all its customers during the financial year and provided over 38,000 customers with moratoriums worth Rs. 8.39 billion. Further, in line with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka directives, the Company suspended vehicle seizing and rescheduled loan facilities.