Posted in Finance, Press release |
 

2021 Financial Results

 
 

FY 2021 RESULTS

AMCO INCREASES PROFITABILITY AND CONTINUES ITS INNOVATION PROCESS

  • Assets under Management at €33.0bn at end of 2021, while average AuM stood at +33% thanks to new portfolios acquisitions and the MPS compendium.
  • AuM balanced between NPLs (60%) and UTPs (40%). Confirmed sustainable approach driven by a patient credit management, aimed at encouraging corporates’ business continuity while supporting the country’s economic system.
  • Collections up to €1.3mld  (+57% y/y), equal to 4.2% of average AuM.
  • EBITDA up to €185.8m (+17% y/y), thanks to a strong growth in revenues (€307m, +43% y/y), careful cost management and economies of scale. EBITDA margin at 61%.
  • Normalised Net profit up to €70m (+22% y/y).
  • Very solid capital structure: CET1 at 35.1%, underpinning future business expansion.
  • Team’s growth: 342 employees, 55 more than in December 2020.
  • Establishment of a new Special Partnerships & Servicers Division (SP&S), consolidating our partnership model with 12 leading market players and ensuring management flexibility.
  • New headquarters in Milan, confirming an up-to-date and flexible work concept.

Fitch upgraded AMCO’s Long Term Issuer Default Rating to BBB (from BBB-) with Stable outlook, and Short Term rating to F2 (from F3).

Milan, 8 March 2022. The Board of Directors of AMCO – Asset Management Company S.p.A. – met today to approve the separate and consolidated results for financial year 2021.

“We close 2021 with significant growth and profitability: normalized net profit reaches €70 million, thanks to high operating margins. Collections showed a strong icrease, reaching €1.3 billion. Capital structure remained strong, with CET1 standing at 35.1%, underpinning future business expansion.

We support business expansion by strengthening our team: now we are 342 people. We expanded the number of servicers we work with and established a new ad-hoc division for their management.

Over 2021, we successfully supported the restructuring of many Italian companies, confirming our sustainable approach driven by a patient credit management, aimed at favouring corporates’ business continuity while supporting the country’s economic system.” Stated Marina Natale, AMCO’s CEO.

FY 2021 RESULTS

Business development

As of 31 December 2021, Assets under Management (AuM) reached €33bn, comprising NPLs (60%) and UTPs (40%), showing a slight drop y/y due to collections. During 2021, average AuM grew by 33% over the previous year.

New business generated by AMCO totalled approximately €0.4bn, including:

  • A portfolio was acquired from Banca Carige (20 March 2021) consisting of receivables arising from lease contracts for a Gross Book Value of approximately €70m;
  • A portfolio was acquired from Banca Iccrea (3 December 2021) consisting of UTP receivables for a Gross Book Value of approximately €268m;
  • A portfolio was acquired from Banca Carige (17 December 2021) consisting of receivables arising from lease contracts for a Gross Book Value of approximately €18m.

The innovation process is continuing, confirming AMCO’s ability to manage and structure complex deals: during 2021, the Back2Bonis fund related to the Cuvèe Project exceeded €1bn of assets under management, as it received three different contributions from an increasing number of participating banks, namely:

  • €52m from BPER Banca;
  • €59m from AMCO, Banco Desio and another leading Italian bank;
  • €124m from Banca ICCREA, CRA Binasco and another leading Italian bank, thus exceeding €1bn assets under management.

In addition, on 4 August 2021, AMCO and Banca Progetto entered into an agreement whereby the latter will be able to grant salary/pension-backed loans to AMCO’s customers under favourable financial conditions.

Finally, on 3 November, AMCO started a collaboration with SACE to share their respective best practices and know-how in the management of impaired loans in Italy and abroad and to enhance their respective portfolios of services and areas of expertise.

At the end of 2021, a new Special Partnerships & Servicers (SP&S) Division was established, with the aim of strengthening partnerships with 12 leading servicers. During 2021, the number of servicers increased from 7 to 12. Thanks to its innovative in-house/outsourcing model, AMCO can rely on operational leverage which allows for cost efficiencies.

The Division manages UTPs and NPLs separately, relying on the servicers’ specific expertise and allocating positions by cluster according to amount and type (corporate/retail, secured/unsecured loans). The Division also manages multi-originator platforms.

Sustainable approach to business

AMCO distinguishes itself for its sustainable approach towards its clients – aimed at avoiding financial and reputational stress and favouring corporates’ sustainability acting as a partner to all its stakeholders. This approach is based on a mix of actions, including:

  • Strategic support, including business plan review and industrial partner selection;
  • Debt restructuring proposals in line with business operating needs, with sustainable repayment plans, including reliance on equity-like instruments;
  • Identification of non-core assets to be divested in order to free up additional resources to support the business;
  • Provision of new financing to encourage business continuity and industrial relaunch, in order to put resources and energies back into circulation for the benefit of the country’s economic system.

During 2021, AMCO successfully supported the restructutings of many Italian companies, including some files from the MPS portfolio: Gruppo Trevi, Edilmarina, Gruppo d’Alesio. In the real estate industry, reference is made to the Litheia Fund, among others.

Operating activity – Collections

Collections in 2021 grew 57% y/y (€1,350m), showing a strong increase over the previous year (+57%), and equal to 4.2% of average AuM[1], well above the 3.7% figure posted in 2020. Growth was driven by an improvement in the macro scenario, the recovery of court’s activities, increased portfolio knowledge and the ability to leverage the in house/outsourcing model.

Consolidated results – Income statement excluding non-recurring items

Normalised Consolidated Net profit[2] as of 31 December 2021 increased to €70m, up 22% from normalised net profit in 2020.

EBITDA (€185.8m) was up 17% y/y, driven by the strong growth in revenues (+43% y/y) due to the business scale-up, which offset the cost increase (+119% y/y). EBITDA margin reached 61%.

€/m – %31 Dec 2020  Excl. NRI31 Dec 2021 Excl. NRIDelta %
Servicing fees48.046.5-3%
Interest and fees from customers101.6189.486%
Other operating income/expenses from operating activity64.671.210%
Total revenues214.1307.043%
Staff costs-30.0-39.933%
Net operating costs-25.3-81.3221%
Total costs-53.3-121.3119%
EBITDA158.8185.817%
Net impairment gains/losses from loans and financial assets-42.7-14,2-67%
Depreciation and amortisation-2.1-2.732%
Provisions0,23,5                            n.s.
Other operating income/expenses-26.5-2.4-91%
Net result from financial activity18.7-2.6                           n.s.
EBIT106.5160.4                           51%
Interest and fees from financial activity-36.3-76.2110%
Pre-tax income70.284.220%
Income taxes-13.1-14.6                            11%
NET RESULT57.169.6                            22%

Revenues increased considerably (+43% y/y) reaching €307.0m, with investment revenues driving growth, reaching 85% of the total (78% in 2020). The remaining revenues originated from servicing activity. Servicing fees were almost entirely due to the loan portfolio of former Veneto Banks, showing a physiological slight decrease due to the reduction in GBV, offset by the increase in fees related to Cuvée.

Interest from customers reached €189.4m (+86% y/y) due to interest from portfolios acquired in 2H20.

Other income/expenses from operating activity refer to cash recoveries(all cash-based) of on-balance portfolios, with recoveries being also maximised by out-of-court settlement procedures.

Total costs stood at €121.3m, up 119% y/y as a result of the strengthening of the operating structure required to support the business scale-up. Staff costs increased by 33% y/y due to the hiring of new resources to support organic growth.

As of 31 December 2021, employees totalled 342, 55 more than at the end of 2020, due to the hiring of new talents both in business operations and central functions.

At the end of December 2021, 67% of the staff were employed in business roles, and the remaining 33% in central functions. All the MPS personnel seconded to AMCO for the onboarding phase of the portfolio completed their time in AMCO, as planned.

Net operating costs (€81.3m) reflect the business scale-up (average AuM + 33% y/y). They include IT costs, business information and other support to the business and to other functions, as well as legal and collection costs. The latter rose to €32.5m due to an increase in on-balance volumes, including the effects of mandates assigned but not yet invoiced. Outsourcing fees (€14.6m vs. €1.5m in FY20) reflect the increase in AuM outsourced.

EBIT[3] grew by 51% y/y to €160.4m. The balance of impairment gains/losses is -€14.2m.

Net interest from financial activity (€76.2m) reflects the cost of financing growth.

Income taxes stood at €14.6m.

As planned, during 2021 – i.e. in the 12 months following the onboarding of the MPS portfolio – AMCO was involved in a review process of the MPS portfolio; the application of AMCO’s provisioning policies to the entire portfolio resulted in one-off provisions for €528.6m. The acquisition of the MPS portfolio also resulted in a positive tax effect of €37.1m in 2021 due to the recognition of DTAs on the loss (€18.9m in 2020[4]). Following the aforesaid provisions, the coverage ratio of the MPS portfolio stood at 59.5% (63.6% NPLs and 49.7% UTPs), in line with market benchmarks.

Balance sheet

The balance sheet remained strong, with assets and liabilities down 10% over the previous year. Loans to customers stood at €4,586m, showing a decrease primarily due to the MPS portfolio valuation review, which also resulted in a reduction in net equity.

Liquid assets, including cash and government bond holdings, reached €657m, showing a €349m increase y/y thanks to the cash generated by business operations.

Financial assets stood at €654m, mainly composed of the investment in IRF for €447.3m.

Financial liabilities at the end of 2021 amounted to €3.7bn and are entirely composed of unsecured bonds related to issuances under the Euro Medium Term Note Programme (EMTN), which was expanded in July 2021 to a maximum of €6bn. Secured debt related to the MPS deal was repaid in full during 2021.

A €1bn Commercial Papers program was launched in August 2021, which can also be used for short-term funding.

€/(000) – %31 Dec 202031 Dec 2021Delta %
Loans to customers5,686,2234,585,719-19%
Cash and cash equivalents307,704657,443114%
Financial assets662,717653,767-1%
Other assets243,728290,66319%
TOTAL ASSETS6,900,3726,187,592-10%
€/(000) – %31 Dec 202031 Dec 2021Delta %
Financial liabilities3,952,0653,673,371-7%
Tax liabilities6,0754,103-32%
Provisions for specific purposes20,81122,95010%
Other liability items97,36891,129-6%
Net equity2,824,0532,396,038-15%
Share capital655,084655,0810%
Share premiums604,552604,5520%
Reserves1,498,3111,572,4795%
Valuation reserves-9,903-14,09842%
Net Profit76,009-421,976n.m.
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET EQUITY6,900,3726,187,592-10%

Capital structure remains very solid even following the capital absorption resulting from the MPS portfolio valuation review. Net equity at the end of 2021 stood at €2.4bn, down from €2.8bn in 2020.

CET1 ratio stood at 35.1%, with Total Capital ratio also standing at 35.1%, as the are no subordinated bonds. A strong capital structure allows to manage potential risks and gives flexibility for further business expansion. 

Net Debt/Equity ratio came in at 1.2x.

RATING

On 26 October 2021, S&P Ratings upgraded AMCO’s outlook from Stable to Positive, assigning a Long-Term rating of ‘BBB’ and Short-Term rating of “A-2”.

On 16 December 2021, Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”) upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (“IDR”) to ‘BBB‘ from ‘BBB-‘ with ‘Stable‘ outlook, and the Short-Term rating to ‘F2‘ from ‘F3’. 

NEW DEVELOPMENTS – NEW HEADQUARTERS IN MILAN

On 15 December 2021, AMCO inaugurated new headquarters in Milan in San Giovanni sul Muro street, confirming an up-to-date and flexible concept of work.

The new headquarters in Milan have a total area of almost 4,800 square metres distributed on seven floors above ground and two underground floors for parking. The company parking lot features two areas designated for bicycle stalls and six charging stations for electric cars.

The building is in the process of obtaining LEED Core and Shell level GOLD certification. In addition, AMCO, as a tenant, has started the process to obtain the LEED Commercial Interior GOLD certification and – among the first to do so in Italy – the Fitwel certification, underscoring its focus on the health and well-being of its employees.

DECLARATION BY THE EXECUTIVE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PREPARATION OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTING DOCUMENTS

I, the undersigned, Silvia Guerrini, in my capacity as executive responsible for the preparation of corporate accounting documents, hereby declare, in accordance with paragraph 2, Article 154(a) of the Testo Unico della Finanza (Italian Consolidated Law on Financial Intermediation), that the accounting information disclosed in this press release reflects documentary evidence, accounting entries and other records of the company.


[1]Calculated as collections/average AuM. Figures net of former Veneto Banks “baciate”, i.e. loans to finance securities purchases.

[2] It does not include the impact of the MPS portfolio valuation review process, which started, as communicated in AMCO’s Half Year Report, after the acquisition of the portfolio via demerger on the basis of accounting values registered in MPS accounts at the demerger date. The application of AMCO’s provisioning policies to the MPS portfolio resulted in one-off provisions of €529m and a stated loss of €422m.

[3] It does not include the impact of the 12-month MPS portfolio valuation review process, which started, as communicated in AMCO’s Half Year Report, after the acquisition of the portfolio via demerger on the basis of accounting values registered in MPS accounts at the demerger date. The application of AMCO’s provisioning policies across the MPS portfolio resulted in one-off provisions of €529m and a stated loss of €422m.

[4] Due to the recognition of tax off-balance positions transferred from MPS within the compendium and recognised by AMCO following verified coverage through Probability Test.