Scottish Pacific beats prospectus forecast
Debtor finance company Scottish Pacific has issued its first financial report since listing on the Australian Securities Exchange earlier this year and after making three acquisitions in the past year. The result reflects a company undergoing significant change but the company highlighted the fact that beat its prospectus profit forecast.According to the statutory accounts, net profit fell from A$9.8 million in 2014/15 to $100,000 for the year to June.The statutory result included acquisition integration costs of $3.7 million, transaction costs of $15.8 million and IPO expenses of $2.1 million.Adjusting for these costs, the company reported a pro forma net profit of $23 million - up 29.9 per cent on the previous corresponding period and close to $1 million ahead of the prospectus forecast.Net revenue grew 9.5 per cent to $92.8 million (pro forma). Expenses were up 4.3 per cent to $59.3 million.Invoice turnover for the year was $11.3 billion. Average annual exposure rose from $552.2 million in 2014/15 to $653.2 million in the year to June.The bad debt expense fell from $3.3 million to $2.8 million. The bad debt expense represented 43 basis points of average exposure - down from 59 bps in 2014/15.Scottish Pacific claims a 20 per cent share of the Australian debtor finance market, with about 1700 business customers. It also offers trade finance and asset finance and bad debt protected facilities.Last December it acquired the Australian and New Zealand businesses of Bibby Financial Services, a rival debtor finance provider. This year it has acquired the Australian debtor finance business of GE Capital Finance and Suncorp's debtor finance business.It has a project scheduled for the 2017/18 financial year to move all these businesses to one operating platform.The company believes the debtor finance market is "underpenetrated" compared with other developed economies and it has committed to using some of its IPO proceeds to increase marketing and build product awareness.The capital raising has also given the company greater access to capital markets, which will give it scope to fund future growth and improve capital management flexibility.It has extended its funding commitments with two major banks and entered into new facilities with two mezzanine funders.