C&I Leasing plans N10bn bond issue, to boost presence in digital space

 C&I Leasing Plc has rolled out plan to raise at least N10 billion through bond issuance programme from the debt market to strengthen its capital structure. Also, owing to the emerging opportunities in the technology space brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said it is on track to digitize its operations as well as commercialise some operations in order to boost earnings.

The chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Andrew Otike-Odibi, disclosed these at the company’s virtual Half Year (H1)2020 Financial Result Presentation, saying that the company is also looking at equity funding not later than first quarter (Q1), 2020.

He informed that the Board of Directors has approved both the equity and the bond issuance programmes, while the process for the capital raising exercises has been set in motion. According to him, “We intend to take that bond in its entirety and replace the short term borrowing in our balance sheet. We will replace one year debt with five to six years long term debt.” Reviewing the company’s financial performance for H1’2020, he said that a combination of the drop in crude oil prices and outbreak of COVID-19 during the period under review, combined to deal a blow on its finances, leading to the drop in some of the key indices. The company’s revenue had fallen by 5.9 percent to N15.3 billion from N16.3 billion in H1’19, while its Profit before Tax (PBT) declined by 58.4 percent to N379 million from N909 million in H1’19. However, its cost-to-income ratio improved by 930 basis points to 42.8 percent from 52.1 percent in the corresponding period in H1’19. Otike-Odibi, however, said that the company plans to create new businesses from the array of opportunities that came out from COVID-19.