Q1 Interim report

January - March 2023

Q1 2023 | APRILA BANK ASA

2

Content

3 Key figures

4 Interim report

6 Condensed consolidated interim statement of comprehensive income

7 Condensed statement of financial position

8 Condensed statement of the cash flow position

9 Condensed statement of changes in equity

10 Notes

Q1 2023 | APRILA BANK ASA

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Key figures

GROSS INCOME FROM LENDING

GROSS LOANS

40.7 749

NOK MILLION

NOK MILLION, EOP

UNIQUE CUSTOMERS

GROSS LOANS PER CUSTOMER

6,571 114

EOP

NOK THOUSAND, EOP

GROSS INCOME PER CUSTOMER1

PURCHASED AMOUNT2

25.5 140

NOK THOUSAND, ANNUALISED

NOK MILLION

  1. Annualised gross income in the period divided by average number of unique customers in the period.
  2. Nominal value of invoices purchased in the period.

Q1 2023 | APRILA BANK ASA

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Interim report

About Aprila Bank ASA

Aprila is a product- and technology company offering improved access to financing for businesses through innovative financial solutions. The bank commenced operations in April 2018 and offers two credit products to businesses: credit line and spot factoring.

Aprila's technology infrastructure employs machine learning models that predict outcomes and price risk automatically, using real-time data in addition to ordinary sources of credit information. This enables the bank to offer credit to businesses with a seamless customer experience.

The bank is owned by private and institutional investors in Norway and abroad. The largest shareholders are SES AS (19.9%), Amesto Group AS (14.8%), and Alliance Venture Spring AS (4.8%)3.

First quarter 2023

Highlights from the quarter are outlined below.

  • Aprila delivered a pre-tax profit of NOK -2.0 million in the first quarter of 2023.
  • Gross income from lending amounted to NOK
    40.7 million, an increase of 88% YoY and 16% QoQ.
  • Total income amounted to NOK 33.9 million, an increase of 89% YoY and 14% QoQ.
  • Gross loans at the end of the quarter amounted to NOK 749 million, an increase of 71% YoY and 11% QoQ.
  • Gross lending to credit line accounts amounted to NOK 689 million at the end of the quarter, an increase of 83% YoY and 13% QoQ.Q.
  • At the end of the quarter, Aprila had 6,571 unique customers, an increase of 23% YoY and 6% QoQ.
  • At the end of the quarter, Aprila had 7,234 open customer accounts distributed on Aprila's three lending platforms: credit line (4,055 accounts), spot factoring4 (3,162 accounts), and home rental5 (17 accounts).

Financial figures

All figures are prepared and presented in accordance with IFRS. Comparable figures from Q1 2022 are presented in brackets.

Interest income in the quarter amounted to NOK

35.6 million (NOK 17.9 million), net interest income to NOK 30.8 million (NOK 16.9 million) and total income was NOK 33.9 million (NOK 17.9 million).

Total operating expenses amounted to NOK 26.0 million (NOK 18.0 million) of which NOK 12.6 million (48%) in salary and personnel expenses, NOK 11.4 million (44%) in general administrative expenses and NOK 2.0 million (8%) in ordinary depreciation.

Losses on loans amounted to NOK 9.9 million

(NOK 5.2 million). Pre-tax operating profit amounted to NOK -2.0 million (NOK -5.3 million).

Total assets at the end of the quarter amounted to NOK 838 million (NOK 530 million) of which NOK 679 million (NOK 408 million) were net loans to customers. Total equity amounted to NOK 190 million (NOK 103 million) and the CET1-ratio was 35.1% (30.2%). Total liquid assets amounted to NOK 141 million (NOK 99 million) of which NOK 74 million in bank deposits and NOK 67 million in certificates and bonds.

  1. As registered in VPS 2 May 2023.
  2. Includes B2B ecommerce accounts (online merchants).
  3. Onboarding of new home rental customers ceased in H1 2021.

Q1 2023 | APRILA BANK ASA

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Outlook

Macroeconomic outlook

During the quarter, inflation and indicators for economic growth remained elevated in both the US and Europe, supporting expectations for further increases in key policy rates.

In March, problems stemming from the rapid increase in interest levels surfaced at some of the US regional banks, most notably Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank. Despite the turmoil, interest rates were raised further in the monetary policy meetings at the Fed, ECB and Norges Bank both in March and in May.

In Norway, inflation (CPI) reached 6.5% year-on-year in March, and core inflation (CPI-ATE) reached 6.2%6. Norges Bank raised the key policy rate from 2.75% to 3.00% in March and from 3.00% to 3.25% in May. At the May 4th meeting, Norges Bank indicated that it was likely to raise the key policy rate in June, and that the rate may be raised to higher levels than previously anticipated.

The 3.25 percentage point increase in the key policy rate from September 2021 to May 2023 has, as of the date of this report, resulted in an increase of Aprila's funding cost of around 2.3 percentage points7. In terms of interest income, Aprila is favourably positioned to manage expected future hikes in interest level as the bank's loan agreements provide a high degree of pricing flexibility. Moreover, since the bank offers high-yielding products, the relative effect of the expected increase in interest rates on the customers' borrowing cost is quite modest.

In the current macro-economic environment, we consider the key uncertainties for Aprila to be the effect of high inflation and the prevailing geopolitical uncertainty on our customers' credit appetite and quality. Aprila's access to day-to-day accounting data for the majority of its customers provides a unique insight into the customers' financial position and the bank will continue to closely monitor the financial health of its customers and continuously align its risk appetite with the customers' financial performance.

Key priorities

During the first half of 2023 Aprila focuses on three key priorities:

Strengthen competitive advantage

We believe that unmatched operational scalability combined with high quality of processes and output is key to create sustainable competitive advantage in Aprila's market. During the first half of 2023, Aprila focuses on implementing a set of carefully selected and prioritised initiatives that will increase the level of automation and quality, and thus strengthen Aprila's competitive advantage.

Continue the strong growth

Aprila.no is the main source for attracting new customers. During the first half of 2023, Aprila continues to enhance customer acquisition through own channels and select partner channels in order to maintain a high growth trajectory and continue to increase the ratio of customer lifetime value to customer acquisition cost.

Reach profitability

Aprila has delivered healthy product profitability over the past eight quarters, despite strong growth. In the second quarter of 2022, Aprila delivered overall profitability. In the third quarter of 2022 the bank failed to deliver a positive net income due to high loan loss provisions. In the second half of 2022, Aprila made a strategic decision to prioritise brand building investments over immediate profitability in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. Looking ahead, the bank will continue to focus on improving underlying profitability and expects to deliver a positive net income in 2023.

Other information

The accounting deficit for the first quarter 2023 has in its entirety been booked against retained earnings. This interim report has not been audited by the company's external auditor.

Oslo, 12 May 2023

Board of Directors

Aprila Bank ASA

  1. CPI = KPI Totalindeks, CPI-ATE = KPI-JAE Totalindeks. Source: ssb.no.
  2. From 1.0 percent in September 2021 to 3.30 percent from 31 March 2023.

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Aprila Bank ASA published this content on 15 May 2023 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 15 May 2023 05:46:05 UTC.