Flexigroup buzz yet to hit the bottom line
Flexigroup chief executive Rebecca James is keeping up the pace in her transformation of the finance company, announcing three new products to accompany the company's 2018/19 financial report.However, the excitement is yet to flow through to the accounts. Cash profit was down, impairments were way up, the return on equity fell and one of the divisions suffered a loss.James, who joined the company last October, told investors earlier this year that a strategic review of the business found that its products set was complex and out of date, its operations hampered by duplication and lack of scalability and its retail partnerships too heavily focused on bricks and mortar.Since then the company has consolidated its 'buy now pay later' operations Certegy and Oxipay into a single business, which has been re-branded humm.Yesterday, the company reported that humm volumes have grown 19 per cent since the re-launch in April.The consolidation is part of a bigger simplification program. The company plans to cut the number of consumer facing brands from 12 to four.Yesterday the company launched bundll, which is being offered in partnership with Mastercard. It will facilitate multiple payments of up to A$1000 at any merchant that accepts Mastercard transactions.It will be launched in the December quarter."We've launched a product that will for the first time allow consumers to buy everything, everywhere and pay later - interest free," James says.The other new products are wiired lease (a digital leasing platform) and wiired money (a digital wallet for small business that will enable instalment payments).The excitement is yet to flow through to the accounts. The company reported net income of A$372.1 million for the year to June - an increase of just 2 per cent. Cash flow from operating activities was down 12 per cent.Net profit $61.7 million, compared with a loss of $9.1 million in 2017/18. The company's preferred measure of earnings, cash profit, was $76.1 million - down 12 per cent from the previous corresponding period.Loan impairments blew out from $66.5 million in 2017/18 to $87.5 million in the year to June. There was a $14 million write-off in the commercial leasing division relating to an equipment finance vendor program.The return on equity was 12.3 per cent - a fall of 110 basis points from the previous year.Looking at the parts of the business, the result was mixed. Despite all the hoopla about humm, the division's cash profit fell 16 per cent during the year. A big increase in loan impairments was a factor in the decline.The New Zealand cards business, which is the company's biggest division, was flat. NZ Leasing was up 36 per cent.Commercial leasing made a loss of $7.6 million. The business suffered from a fall in income and a big jump in impairments.