Peer to peer lender Fincera (OTCQB: YUANF) has issued their 2018 year-end results. The Chinese online lender reported top line revenue for the year ended December 31, 2018 at RMB 1,412.0 million (USD $205.7 million), an increase of RMB 388.1 million from RMB 1,023.9 million in the prior year period.
Net income jumped to RMB 274.8 million (USD$ 40.0 million) for the year, or RMB 5.45 per diluted share (USD $0.79 per diluted share), compared to a net loss of RMB 8.4 million, or RMB 0.18 per diluted share in the prior-year.
Along with the vastly improved results, Fincera declared a USD $0.30 dividend. Fincera said it plans to issue a dividend semi-annually going forward.
Fincera is a provider of internet finance for both small businesses and individuals.
Fincera has paid special dividends in the past but this marks the first time that Fincera plans to pay a dividend twice per year going forward.
Fincera said that loan transaction volume across all loan types for 2018 totaled approximately RMB 27.9 billion (USD $4.1 billion), an increase of approximately 3.9% compared to approximately RMB 26.8 billion in 2017.
CeraVest, known as Qingyidai (轻易贷) in China, is the Company’s proprietary peer-to-peer lending platform through which it offers SMBs short-term financing at competitive interest rates.
Fincera offers three loan types to its customers, 180-day term loans, 30-day lines of credit, and installment loans via its CeraVest platforms.
As of December 31, 2018, Fincera reports that it has facilitated an aggregate of RMB 24.9 billion (USD $3.6 billion) in 180-day term loans.
During 2018, Fincera facilitated RMB 12.0 billion (USD $1.7 billion) in Qingying 180-day term loans.
30-day Lines of Credit (“Yueying”) Fincera facilitates revolving credit lines that are interest-free to SMBs to fund their short-term working capital needs.
Similar to credit cards, Fincera’s credit lines contain no fees for borrowers as long as any outstanding balances are paid in full each month. A fee is charged to the merchants where the credit lines are used of between 1.6-2.2%.
When the credit line is successfully facilitated by Fincera’s P2P platform, Fincera collects a portion of this fee as facilitation fee income. The remainder of the fee goes to the investor in the loan.
As of December 31, 2018, the Company has facilitated an aggregate of RMB 59.2 billion (USD $8.6 billion) in 30-day lines of credit transactions.
During 2018, Fincera facilitated RMB 12.9 billion (USD $1.9 billion) in Yueying 30-day lines of credit transactions.
Jason Wang, CFO of Fincera, commented on the annual results:
“Fincera reported exceptional financial results during 2018, which is largely due to the continued growth and brand recognition of our online lending platform. We are pleased to have achieved record loan transaction volume during a time of industry-wide anxiety due to uncertainty about future government regulations. We believe we are one of the few, if not only P2P platforms in China that have established a strong reputation as a valuable partner to small and medium-sized business customers, as well as the investors who trust in our ability to properly underwrite in order to protect their money. We have successfully navigated changes within the P2P industry in China and support the government’s initiatives towards properly overseeing the marketplace. We believe our risk management efforts have Fincera well positioned to take advantage of the ongoing ‘flight toward quality’ in our industry.”