Jovi Ho Published on Sat, Oct 23, 2021
iFAST Corporation reported earnings of $7.60 million for 3QFY2021 ended Sept 30, a growth of 23.3% y-o-y and 8.26% q-o-q for the financial services company.
This marks a rebound in the company’s rate of earnings growth, following earnings of $7.02 million in 2QFY2021, which marked its first quarterly dip since 1QFY2019 at 20% lower q-o-q.
The Group’s assets under administration (AUA) continued to register new record levels, reaching $18.38 billion as at Sept 30, a growth of 46.1% y-o-y and 27.2% year-to-date (YTD).
The AUA of unit trusts, its key investment asset class, grew to a record $13.46 billion, a growth of 39.5% y-o-y and 23.5% YTD.
The Group’s net revenue grew 32.6% y-o-y to $30.31 million in 3QFY2021.
For the interim dividend for 3QFY2021, the Directors declared a dividend of 1.30 cents per ordinary share, an increase of 62.5% y-o-y compared to the interim dividend for 3QFY2020 of 0.80 cents per ordinary share.
As at Sept 30, the Group’s net cash and cash equivalents increased to $54.44 million from $53.28 million as at Dec 31, 2020.
Current assets increased to $200.90 million as at Sept 30 from $194.60 million as at Dec 31, 2020. “This was due mainly to increases in cash and cash equivalents, trade and other receivables over the period, partially offset by decreases in receivables from uncompleted contracts on securities dealing at end of the period,” says iFAST.
Non-current assets increased to $65.80 million as at Sept 30 from $59.68 million as at Dec 31, 2020. “This was due mainly to additional investment in associate, additional deferred tax assets recognised and purchase of plant and equipment in 9M2021, purchase of intangible assets including the acquired business rights resulting from the business transfer agreement with DWS Investments Singapore Limited for the transfer of its fund management business relating to its Singapore mutual funds platform, which was completed in July 2021, and some contract asset recognised for the Hong Kong pension project at end of the period,” says iFAST.
Total liabilities decreased to $142.29 million as at Sept 30 from $150.88 million as at Dec 31, 2020. ” This was due mainly to some bank loan repayment in 3Q20, partially offset by higher dividend amounts paid to shareholders in 3QFY2021,” says iFAST.
iFAST’s Five-Year Plan
The Group has set out a Five-Year Plan focusing on four key aspects: “to get bigger and better, to accelerate Hong Kong’s growth, to pursue more licences and to build a truly global business model”.
Firstly, the Group will continue to work on increasing the scale and quality of its FinTech wealth management platform, while remaining committed to achieving its goal of $100 billion in Group AUA by 2028.
Secondly, the Group expects to substantially accelerate its overall Hong Kong business in the next five years, particularly in 2024 and 2025, as it effectively executes the ePension business and continues to improve on its existing platform capabilities.
Thirdly, to ensure that iFAST Corp remains a progressive and competitive FinTech player and to improve overall user stickiness, the Group expects to be pursuing more financial licences in different jurisdictions and make strategic investments in adjacent FinTech capabilities.
Lastly, the Group targets to make tangible progress towards its vision of being a top FinTech wealth management player with a truly global business model focused on helping investors invest globally and profitably.
Shares in iFAST closed 34 cents lower, or 3.42% down, at $9.60 on Oct 22.