Interim chair of Wisr Matt Brown
After a couple of chaotic weeks, when it sacked its chief executive and then its chair stepped aside, consumer lender Wisr has released its 2022/23 financial report, which details its failure to achieve its goal of profitability.
At the end of the 2021/22 financial year the company said it would slow originations and focus on capital management and the bottom line.
In the year to June, loan origination of A$495 million was down 19 per cent on the previous year.
Revenue rose strongly but higher wages, finance expenses and credit provisions meant the company was only able to report a smaller loss, rather than a profit. The loss was $13.1 million, compared with a loss of $19.9 million the previous year.
Even on the company’s preferred measure, EBDTA, the company lost $1.6 million.
The only positive was cash flow, which turned around from an outflow of $2.6 million in 2021/22 to a positive $6.2 million in the year to June.
The company’s loan balance is $931 million. The provision for expected credit loss was $22.3 million and net loan write-offs represented 1.59 per cent of the average loan balance – up from 1.17 per cent the previous year.
Earlier this week, the company announced that its former chief executive, Anthony Nantes, was facing unspecified criminal charges.
On August 16, Wisr announced that it had terminated Nantes, effective immediately. The board appointed chief financial officer Andrew Goodwin as his replacement.
It said Nantes’ termination was not the result of “any financial irregularity or regulatory contravention” and it continued to conduct business as usual.
In another development, Wisr chair John Nantes, said he would take a two-month leave of absence to avoid a conflict of interest while the board sorts out Anthony Nantes’ termination arrangements. The two are brothers.
The chair of the audit and risk committee, Matthew Brown, will serve as interim chair.