The Liberty Financial Group Pty Ltd (ASX: LFG) share price finished off 1.23% up at $8.20 a share today after the non-bank lender released its half-year results.
Liberty Group is a diversified finance company that held its initial public offering (IPO) debut on the ASX in December 2020. Its businesses include residential and commercial mortgages, motor vehicle finance, personal loans, business loans, broking services, general insurance and investments.
Here's what we learned from the company's financial results for the period ended 31 December 2020 (HY21).
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Liberty Financial share price pops after strong results
Liberty Financial reported an HY21 statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) of $83 million compared to its HY20 NPAT of $74 million.
As at 31 December 2020, the group had financial assets under management totalling $12.0 billion. This is slightly higher than the $11.7 billion reported for 30 June 2020.
Liberty Financial held $672.4 million in cash at the end of the period, which compares to $484.9 million at the end of HY20.
Executive commentary
Liberty Financial reported a reduction in customers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic to 2% of the portfolio as at 31 December 2020. This compares to 10% at 30 June 2020.
Commenting on the current business environment, chief executive officer James Boyle said:
Liberty's customers have shown tremendous resilience during the pandemic. Notwithstanding the improved financial position of our customers, economic and social uncertainty continues which means we remain cautious about our FY21 results.
Liberty's chief financial officer Peter Riedel added:
LFG's capital and liquidity position remains in a strong position to support our existing customers and continuing to grow with only a modest increase in overall leverage ratio to 13.4x. Standard and Poor's also affirmed Liberty's investment grade corporate rating as BBB- (stable) and LFG issued three securitisations 2020 totalling $2.3b in the second half of 2020.
Since its IPO in December, the Liberty Group share price is up 17% and is trading 8.6% higher year to date.
