VICTORIA Finance Plc has posted a pre-tax profit increase of 32 per cent last year amid the coronavirus pandemic thanks to an improvement in operating income.

The profit of microfinance firm, listed on Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange's (DSE) non-trading platform-Endeleza-rose to 675m/- last year from 513m/- in a similar period in 2019.

The Victoria Chairman, Mr Leonard Kitoka, said the good performance was underpinned by the new five-year strategic plan whose implementation started last year and their readiness to adjust approaches during the year.

"Despite the unprecedented pandemic that faced the world from coronavirus which affected most of the businesses across the world, the Victoria Group remained resilient and performed relatively better compared to the previous year," Mr Kitoka said in the financial statement.

Microfinance also has an insurance brokerage firm, Victoria Insurance Brokers.

The chairman also said they recommend a dividend of 27/- per share for last year compared to 23/- in 2019 which was payable to shareholders in the register at end of May.

"This is the second time in a row that the Group is making such a decision to pay back to shareholders for the risk they took to invest in the company," Mr Kitoka said.

Victoria made a net profit of 471m/- up from 364m/- in 2019, which was an increase of 29 per cent. The total assets increased from 6.2bn/- in 2019 to close at 7.9bn/- last year supported by new funding sources.

"More investment was channelled towards lending activities with net portfolio recording an increase of about 20 per cent to 5.7bn/- from 4.7bn/- in the previous year," the Chairman said.

Victoria's Managing Director Julius Mcharo said the business during the year was relatively stable for both micro and macroeconomics but with increased risks of the pandemic, low agriculture product prices and the enforcement of new microfinance regulations affected the loan portfolio quality.

"We witnessed yet another successful year [2020], full of positive strides but also with many dynamics challenging the status quo especially as the world faced serious COVID-19 pandemic affecting many aspects of economy and society," Mr Mcharo said.

The Managing Director said despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and change of microfinance regulations in the country, they made various policy and procedural adjustments in their approaches.

The adjustments were focused on their strategic goals with cautions of possible increased risks across the industry and worldwide.

The total assets increased by 29 per cent to close the year at 7.9bn/- from 6.2bn/-recorded in 2019.

The operating income rose by 23 per cent from 1.83bn/- in 2019 to2.2bn/-last year, this was due to improved funded income and insurance commission which performed relatively better than the previous year.

Also, net interest income increased by 34 per cent while the insurance commission rose by 28 per cent on the account of significant improvement in the insurance premium underwritten during the year.

"There was a negative impact on the other fee income due to lower disbursement as a result of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic," Mr Mcharo said.

Victoria was one of the few microfinance institutions (MFIs) to receive the licenses from the central bank, confirming the firm commitment to prioritising compliance by adapting to new regulatory changes.

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