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Wisr (ASX:WZR) posts first cashflow-positive quarter as its loan book grows again

ASX News, Finance
ASX:WZR      MCAP $53.49M
28 January 2022 17:01 (AEST)
Wisr (ASX:WZR) - CEO, Anthony Nantes

Source: Wisr

Consumer lender Wisr (WZR) has announced its first cashflow-positive quarter in its latest quarterly report, with December quarter revenue more than doubling year-on-year.

Wisr’s revenue for the three months to the end of December 2021 topped $14.1 million — a 140-per-cent increase on the same period in 2020 and a 16 per cent increase on the September 2021 quarter.

This marks the 22nd consecutive quarter of loan growth for Wisr, with the company flagging $136 million in loan originations during the December quarter — a 62 per cent increase on the previous corresponding period.

What’s more, this takes Wisr’s total loan originations to $879 million as of December 31, 2021.

Meanwhile, as loan originations grew, Wisr also managed to cut operating expenditure to $8.4 million from the September quarter’s $13.3 million.

The company’s performance over the quarter brought about some important firsts for Wisr: its first positive quarterly operating cashflow and positive cash earnings before tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBTDA).

Wisr’s operating cashflow was positive by just shy of $1.3 million, while EBTDA came in positive at roughly $400,000.

The company ended December with around $76 million of cash in the bank $205 million in undrawn debt, meaning the company had over $281 million in available funding at the end of the quarter.

Wisr CEO Anthony Nantes said the record quarter demonstrated the underlying strength in the company’s unit economics and the scalability of its platform.

“These results have us well on track to deliver our medium-term target of a wholly-owned $1 billion loan book this calendar year,” Mr Nantes said.

“Our treasury capability, market-leading unit economics, and prime loan book have been validated further by the introduction of one of Australia’s largest institutional fund managers, IFM, as a mezzanine investor in the Wisr Warehouse.”

He added that the company’s proprietary Financial Wellness Platform was resonating with the consumer sentiment shift evident throughout the pandemic as Australians think more about their financial wellbeing.

To help support its growth, Wisr has appointed former National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) Deputy CEO Oliver Bladek as its new Chief Operating Office, effective as of January 31.

Wisr management said Mr Bladek has almost two decades of experience in designing and delivering growth transformations to improve business’ performance and culture.

“As we take Wisr’s growth to the next level, we’re excited to have someone of Oliver’s calibre and experience on the Executive Leadership Team as we accelerate our revenue, path to profitability and operating leverage into H2 and beyond,” Mr Nantes said.

Shares in Wisr had spiked 8.57 per cent to 19 cents each at 2:14 pm AEDT. The company has a $257 million market cap.

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