Home Credit grew again last year, lending four per cent more

Brno

01/23/2012 - Home Credit lent its clients a total of CZK 8.75 billion through consumer credit in 2011. This means a four per cent increase over the previous year. The most marked growth was seen in credit cards, confirming their increasing popularity as a modern means of payment.

“The consumer credit market is highly competitive, which is why we are happy that our customers trust us and finance their needs and dreams with us. Home Credit achieved excellent results last year in an environment under constant pressure from the unclear developments throughout Europe,” said Mr David Bystrzycki, CEO, Home Credit a.s.

The amount of credit that Home Credit provided for instalment sales of goods in the retail network slightly decreased last year. This is due to the deflation of prices on the home furnishings market where the prices of furniture and electronics have steadily decreased for years. Hence, the principal provided was slightly less than 5% lower than in the previous year.

“More and more clients also use their credit cards for smaller purchases that they previously made on instalments. This is easier for them, since they don’t need to conclude an individual agreement for each less costly item such as DVD players or small TV sets, but can use their card more comfortably. The purchase is as quick as when shopping for cash,” explains Michal Kozub, Home Credit trend analyst.

Credit cards grew by 7% last year, in particular thanks to new innovations that changed the market as a whole. Home Credit started, in co-operation with Tesco, to issue credit cards that can be used for payments within approximately thirty minutes from filing the application. The card issue process has therefore been greatly reduced, making credit cards more accessible for people than ever before.

Home Credit was also successful in the field of vehicle loans last year. The demand for automobiles continued to increase last year and the revenue for the automobiles sold in the Czech Republic grew by 5.5% (Czech Statistical Office, January to November 2011). This is one of the reasons why Home Credit achieved record-breaking results. The average vehicle loan grew slightly to CZK 124,000.

Even though the non-bank market dropped by almost 12% in the first to third quarters of the year (based on statistics by the Czech Leasing and Finance Association), Home Credit also succeeded in retaining its position in cash loans where the volume dropped by just 5%. This is a good result under the current market conditions. “The demand for cash loans was somewhat lower last year, as people often use this type of loans for home furnishings. Last year, though, we saw the property market freeze up, which is why the demand for cash decreased slightly,” added Mr Kozub.

Home Credit also celebrated 2 million clients towards the end of last year. This means that every fifth Czech has used the company’s financial services over the 15 years of its existence. According to the CEO, Mr David Bystrzycki, the success stems primarily from knowing how to offer good value and being able to show good customers that repeatedly coming back to Home Credit pays off. Accordingly, the company plans to continue rewarding good clients this year – for example by refunding a part of or even all interest in the event of timely and correct repayment.

For additional questions please contact:

Zuzana Bienvenu

Spokesperson, Home Credit a.s.

+420 541 598 461

+420 724 814 610

Moravské náměstí 249/8

602 00 Brno

zbienvenu@homecredit.cz

www.homecredit.cz 

Notes to the editors:

Home Credit a.s., founded in 1997, is one of the leading consumer finance providers in the Czech Republic. The company offers a broad range of loan products: POS loans, car loans, cash loans, and credit cards. In 2011 the company granted loans totalling CZK 8.75 billion. Home Credit a.s. is a member of Home Credit Group.

More information available at www.homecredit.cz.

Home Credit Group(Home Credit B.V. and its subsidiaries) (”Group”) is one of the leading providers of consumer finance in Europe and offers its services to 4.5 million active clients (as of 30 June 2011, including Kazakhstan). In selected countries, the Group also successfully offers and develops retail banking services. The Group is active in the Czech Republic (since 1997), Slovakia (since 1999), Russian Federation (since 2002) and Belarus (since 2007). In addition, the Home Credit brand has been present in Kazakhstan since 2005, where Home Credit B.V. is a minority shareholder in AO Home Credit Bank.

More information available at www.homecredit.eu.

Home Credit Group is wholly owned by PPF Group N.V. (“PPF”), one of the largest investment and financial groups in Central and Eastern Europe. PPF currently manages assets worth approximately EUR 12.4 billion (as of 31 December 2010), which include various activities from banking and insurance to real estate, energy and mining, and agriculture, to Russia’s largest consumer electronics retail chain. PPF’s activities spread from Central and Eastern Europe through Russia to Asia.

On the basis of Home Credit’s success in Europe, PPF also develops consumer finance under the Home Credit brand in Asia, specifically in China (since 2007) and Vietnam (since 2009), and explores opportunities to enter other emerging markets in that region.

More information available at www.ppf.eu.