- Accounts for 54.8% of equity turnover
- Achieves double digit growth in 2021 financial year
- Profit before tax up by 11 % while after tax profit climbed 16%
Homegrown pan-African microlender Letshego Holdings Limited was among the top three companies that dominated trading activity on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) during the trading period of 1st January to 31st May 2022.
According to data from the BSE Market Performance Report for the period, Letshego – which specialises in provision of short to medium-term unsecured loans to employees in the public, quasi-public and private sectors – was the leading counter, accounting for 54.8 percent of total equity turnover. “Letshego’s considerable contribution to total equity turnover results from a significantly high trade of P183.0 million on 23rd March 2022, which is the highest daily trade per counter in 2022 thus far,” the report said.
The top three traded companies on the BSE during the period under review were Letshego (P260.4million), Botswana’s second largest food retailer Sefalana, (P52.7million), and eco-tourism outfit Chobe Holdings Limited (P50.0million). The total turnover from these three companies accounted for 76.3 percent of total equity turnover on the bourse. “In comparison to the same period in 2021, the top three traded companies accounted for 41.5 percent of total equity turnover, with the leading counter Letshego, accounting for 23.9 percent (P45.2 million) of total equity turnover,” the BSE noted in the report.
In Letshego’s recently released 2021 annual report, Group Chief CEO Aupa Monyatsi revealed that the Group had a sound performance for the 2021 financial year, achieving double digit performance growth for 2021. He stated that profit before tax grew by 11 percent year-on-year to P1.1 billion and profit after tax climbed 16 percent for the same comparative period to P730 million. According to the annual report, asset quality remains strong with the Group’s Loan Loss Ratio (LLR) at -0.1 percent for the year or 0.5 percent with one-off deductions stripped off. The Group’s non-performing loans ratio increased marginally to 5.9 percent for the year compared to 5.3 percent in the 2020 financial year.
Monyatsi said this pointed to stability in the Group’s credit and risk management framework. “Performance for the year was largely driven by 17 percent growth in net customer advances, totalling P11.9 billion,” said the interim CEO. “Net Interest Income saw a gradual increase of 6 percent year-on-year and non-funded income increased by 30 percent year-on-year, buoyed by momentum in new insurance offerings in select markets. “In line with the Group’s commitment to spurring focused investment, the Group’s operating expenses grew 13 percent year-on-year. Investment is expected to increase further during the final phase of Plan 2, which runs out by the end of the 2022 financial year.”
Within the Group’s lending value stream, Letshego achieved double-digit growth in its Deduction at Source portfolio of 14 percent where profitability remains positive, buoyed by digital and system enhancements. The year saw slower growth in Micro & Small Entrepreneur, with this portfolio increasing in value by 7 percent to P859 million compared to P806 million in the 2020 financial year. The Mass Mobile Loans portfolio enjoyed stronger performance, with growth more than doubling in value to P568 million from P231 million in 2020. Letshego says it remains well capitalised at a 31 percent capitalisation ratio, and is in a strong liquidity position to support future business growth.
Letshego is an multinational organisation headquartered and listed in Botswana and focused on increasing access to simple, appropriate and inclusive financial solutions to populations across 11 sub-Saharan markets. The company operates in Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Eswatini, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania. Letshego Holdings Limited was incorporated in 1998 in Gaborone, Botswana subsequently listing on the Botswana Stock Exchange in 2002.
