Group Lease Public Company Limited reported 3Q2019 net profit of 9.51 million baht as the Company incurred high legal related costs and reduced revenue as the Company focused on higher quality borrowers

Mr. Alain Jean Pascal Dufes, Chief Financial Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, revealed that “the Company had profit of 9.51 million in 3Q2019, a decline compared to 3Q2018, due to our smaller business size as we focus on good borrowers and deal with high legal costs in Thailand and Singapore. Revenue declined by 117 million or 16% compared to 3Q2018 as we reduced our business in every country except Myanmar, which continues to have almost no NPL. We did have a large increase in professional fees, 29 million more than a year ago for a total of more than 55 million, and had a 15 million negative adjustment related loss on exchange rate. Those two items total 70 million and are the primary reason for our poor performance this quarter. The legal fees will continue in the near future as we fight legal battles in multiple countries.”

Mr. Tatsuya Konoshita, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, stated that “we have continued to maintain profitability even in the face of lawsuits and reorganizing our business to be higher quality. For the lawsuits, we have nearly finished the case in Singapore and the trial in Thailand is currently ongoing. Legal cases in both are moving forward and we are starting to see an end in sight where we can start to fight back for damages. For our business, we have seen the improvements in NPL that we expected, confirming that our strategy to improve quality is working. We will start to grow more using this strategy, which should provide us with both improved growth and quality. Additionally, our most recent product, Bajaj, is continuing to grow well in both Cambodia and Myanmar.

Another important item to highlight this quarter is that we repaid our Thai bond for 1,500 million baht without incurring any new debt. As we have stated repeatedly, we have the ability to pay our creditors and we did. We have always repaid our debts on time.

Overall, business is going as expected with the lawsuits progressing and us starting to grow the business with higher quality by the end of the year. We are optimistic about the challenges we face and we look forward to achieving successes for our shareholders and employees.”