Adalan Ventures Regulatory News (ZAIM)

Not for release or distribution, directly or indirectly, within, into or in the United States or to or for the account or benefit of persons in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan or any other jurisdiction where such offer or sale would violate the relevant securities laws of such jurisdiction

 23 September 2021

Zaim Credit Systems Plc

("Zaim" or the "Group")

Second quarter 2021 trading update

Another record-high quarter of loans issued

Zaim Credit Systems plc, the Russian focused fintech group, announces a trading update from its wholly owned subsidiary, Zaim-Express LLC, ('Zaim-Express') in respect of the second quarter of the financial year ended 31 December 2021.

Highlights[1]:

Fourth consecutive quarter of Strong Online Growth confirms Zaim's transition to an Online Fintech Platform

· Strong business growth exceeds expectations and continues to fit within Group strategy to significantly increase market share through focus on maximising growth and customer numbers over profitability

· The Group continued to trade profitably in Q2 2021, the fourth consecutive Quarter of Profitable Growth

· Another record-high quarter with £6.3m loans issued - business growth of 24% vs. Q1 2021

· Mobile application launched in July 2021 creates a transformational new distribution channel to complement rapidly growing online desktop channel and existing offline stores

With Zaim's online business channel now comprising 88% of total business volumes and continuing to be the main engine for growth, Zaim considers that it has now successfully completed its objective to evolve from a solely physical company to a digital lending company.

Siro Cicconi, Zaim's CEO commented:

 "I am delighted to present Zaim's fourth consecutive quarter of strong growth driven by successful implementation of our online-focused business strategy. In the second quarter of 2021 we have continued to perform well and the growth in the business remains strong with a 24% Quarter on Quarter increase in loans issued.

Crucially important is that fact that nearly all of Zaim's business with the exception of some flagship and legacy stores is now generated through our online channel.

This is important as our online strategy makes our business sustainably profitable due to a significantly lower fixed cost base and greater scalability. Our continued investment in our proprietary platform and process, including the launch of mobile application, which represents an additional sales channel and a significant growth driver of the business, makes us confident that the online part of the business is now very well positioned to capture further market share thus satisfying our growth objectives and positioning the company to significantly drive shareholder value going forward.

We look forward to updating upon our H1 2021 financial results at the end of September followed shortly afterwards by our Q3 2021 trading update."

Second quarter 2021 trading update

The table below presents the two main KPI's (loans issued and default rate) for the last five quarters:

Notes: 

1 All figures presented throughout this announcement represent unaudited management information taken from the internally generated management accounts of Zaim-Express LLC

2 Default rate is defined as no payment received after 120 days of the origination of the loan

3 Data is not yet available for the quarter ended 30 June 2021 as the earliest time to determine default rates is 120 days after the end of the period

The Group continued to see strong growth in loans issued during the quarter with an increase of 24% QoQ, driven by growth in the online business

The weighted average default rate increased to 20.8% in Q1 as a result of the increase in the number of first-time customers which inherently have statistically higher probability of defaults.

This increase in default levels is in line with the management expectations and is a result of the strategy to maximise growth and gain as much market share as possible. This is being diligently managed and is caused by the rapid growth of online business and is not due to any deterioration of business performance. 

Enquiries:

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR").