The London Stock Exchange-listed, Atlas Mara made a profit of $4.1m (P41 million) in the first half of the year compared to a $63.1 million (P631 million) loss in the same period last year.
Agencies Former head of Barclays, Bob Diamond and Ugandan entrepreneur Ashish Thakkar co-founded the company in 2013, aiming to build it into a leading bank in sub-Saharan Africa.
The duo then bought BancABC in a $210 million deal last year, taking their presence to seven countries including Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda and Botswana.
“We registered positive results from focused processes around managing non-performing loans visible particularly in Zimbabwe and Botswana during the first half of 2015. Significant asset recoveries were also recognised in Zimbabwe ($4.2m) and Botswana ($5.4m). Overall, there was reduced costs of funding in all BancABC countries from December 2014 levels,” said Atlas Mara in a statement.
Apart from the five countries that BancABC has operations, Atlas Mara also owns the Union Bank of Nigeria and BRD Commercial Rwanda.
According to the company’s results for the half-year, plans are underway to double their presence as it “evaluates further acquisitions”. Atlas Mara is still in talks to take a stake in Banque Populaire du Rwanda, which it wants to merge with its existing Rwandan operation BRD Commercial, to create the latest bank in the country.
During the first half, the company was boosted by a deal with the Tanzanian postal agency to set up banking services in all of its post offices across the country. That could increase the size of its BancABC Tanzania arm
from four branches to 199 outlets. Atlas also says it would use $130 million (P1.3 billion) from its recent OPIC facility to finance strategic acquisitions in key markets for BancABC and Atlas Mara.
“About $130 million of OPIC’s $200 million debt under this project will be dedicated towards financing strategic acquisitions to facilitate expansion of Atlas Mara’s platform, footprint, and channels bolstering its developmental impact reach. Final closing of terms and conditions is anticipated during the fall of 2015.
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“Countries targeted by the initiative will include Botswana, Mozambique, and Zambia,” read the statement.
Under the terms of the agreement, OPIC will provide $200 million in long-term debt and Atlas Mara will provide $100 million of committed resources, to expand the operations of Atlas Mara’s southern African banking platform BancABC.
BancABC will scale up its SME loan portfolio, increase on-lending for financial inclusion products and invest in information technology upgrades to quicken implementation of its new financial technology and mobile banking initiatives, Atlas Mara said.
The deal followed US President Barack Obama’s recent trip to Africa.
Atlas Mara took the first step in building its brand presence in Africa when it unveiled the new BancABC logo in Gaborone last week.
“We believe that the proposed logo is a balanced representation of the heritage and history of BancABC, as well as the potential and promise that Atlas Mara brings to both BancABC and its customers.
“It provides familiarity, reassurance and stability, while creating confidence, excitement and optimism regarding the future of the group,” said Blessing Mudavanhu, acting chief executive officer of BancABC.
