Letshego Holdings (Namibia) has recorded a profit after tax of N$168 million for the half year ended 30 June 2022 (1H22), a 5.2% y/y increase from N$159.6 million posted in 1H21.
The listed financial services company’s total income for the period rose by 7.8% y/y to N$467 million.
“The growth was primarily driven by a strong increase in cell captive dividend income, which rose by 21.3% y/y or N$22.6 million to N$128.9 million in 1H22,†according to IJG.
Total interest income declined by 0.7% y/y over the same period.
“Growth in interest income from lending activities continues to lag loan book growth, decreasing by 4.4% y/y or N$14.4 million to N$309.9 million, despite the Bank of Namibia hiking interest rates by 100 bps over the same period. Other interest income rose by 604% y/y to N$14.1 million with interest received on bank deposits rising by N$5.4 million while interest received on investments in government securities contributed N$6.7 million to the increase in other interest income.â€
Total operating expenses for the financial services company grew by 21.2% y/y to N$183.9 million.
“Employee benefits expenses, which have been the main driver of operating expenses growth over the past couple of years, were well contained, increasing by only 2.7% y/y in 1H22 to N$38.1 million (compared to inflation of 6.0% over the same period). Other operating expenditures however grew by 27.1% y/y, mainly attributable to an increase in insurance expense on the microfinance lending book. Excluding insurance expenses sees other operating expenditures fall by 0.1% y/y.â€
Letshego reported a strong growth in deposits of 45.1% y/y to N$437.3 million in 1H22 during the period.
“The results release states that LHN has added 39,000 active customers since the launch of the company’s ‘digital mall’ (app) in December, and that it opened another branch in Windhoek.â€
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