Category: Press Releases

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18 September 2018 : Group Lease announces a 5-year strategic plan to upgrade its Digital Finance model

Group Lease announces a 5-year strategic plan to upgrade its Digital Finance model

18 Sep 2018

September 18, 2018 – Group Lease is moving forward with business growth in the next 5-year plan with five pillars of company strategy. In addition, the company prepares to upgrade its “Digital Finance” model to “Life Cycle Finance” and evolve from a “Leasing Company” to “Multi Finance Company” and expects earnings before tax to grow by 164% by 2022, an increase from THB 0.7 billion in 2017 to THB 1.8 billion in 2022.

Mr. Tatsuya Konoshita, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, revealed today not only the forecast of where GL want to be financially in the next 5 years, but also the mission, vision, and values we expect of our company. GL’s mission is to help our customers grow and improve their lives by providing them with innovative, efficient and local financial solutions. We will achieve this by being the leading “GLOCAL finance company” (Global and Local at the same time), using our global reach to bring capital and support to our local customers who need it the most.

As a publicly traded company on the Stock Exchange of Thailand who has partnered with companies such a Honda, Kubota, TrueMoney and others, we are able to bring global resources to local people to empower them to achieve their dreams and improve their lives. We made our low-cost and efficient POS network so that we can achieve our mission. Meeting our mission and achieving our vision only is good if we can do it while being good. Over the next five years, GL will upgrade its “Digital Finance” model to “Life Cycle Finance” and evolve from being a “Leasing Company” to “Multi Finance Company.

“Our goals are a continuation of our current efforts with new efforts too. Doing these will help us reach our financial objections as well, which are important and necessary for us to continue our mission. Portfolio is one of the main drivers of revenue and profitability for our firm and industry, we expect in our base case (middle case in 3 scenarios) that our consolidated portfolio will grow from approximately THB 7.6 billion to THB 12.1 billion by 2022—an increase of 59%. However, revenue will grow quicker than portfolio due to the growth of non-portfolio based revenue such as auction and business services. We forecast revenue to grow from THB 2.7 billion (excluding the disputed loans) in 2017 to THB 4.6 billion in 2022, an increase of 74%” Konoshita said.

Mr. Muneo Tashiro, Chief Operating Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, informed that since GL has focused on network and market expansion for the past few years and has already created a solid southeast Asia foundation, we can grow earnings faster than we can grow revenue as we have already incurred much of the expense growth related to expansion and can now enjoy the benefit of rapid earnings growth. Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT- excluding exceptional allowances and CCF), we expect to grow from roughly THB 0.9 billion to THB 1.9 billion, an increase of 103%. Most importantly, Earnings Before Taxes (including earnings from our CCF investment and excluding exceptional item), we expect to grow by 164% by 2022, an increase from THB 0.7 billion in 2017 to THB 1.8 billion in 2022.

“We at GL at committed to meeting our mission to improve our customers lives. We have reviewed and created a plan to achieve that mission while ensuring our financial success so that we can always continue our mission and continue to expand it to those who need it. Management is excited optimistic and confident on the future of our business” Tashiro concluded.

  5-year strategic plan

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15 August 2018 : Group Lease announces 2Q2018 performance Reissued 2017 financial statement, three consecutive quarters of profitability

Group Lease announces 2Q2018 performance Reissued 2017 financial statement, three consecutive quarters of profitability

15 Aug 2018

Group Lease Public Company Limited reported 2018 second quarter revenue of 729.01 million baht and net profit of 125.98 million—3 consecutive profitable quarters after the one-time adjustment in 3Q of 2017 while also improving profitability quarter to quarter.

Mr. Alain Jean Pascal Dufes, Chief Financial Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, revealed that the Company continues to be profitable with 125.98 million baht in net profit for the second quarter of 2018—marking the third consecutive quarter of profitability. Revenue grew 25.9 million or 4% compared to the first quarter while service and administration expenses were reduced by 14.5 million or 4% which helped result in an increase of 18% in net profit (106.53 million to 125.98 million) and a 27% increase in operational profit (106.41 million to 134.69 million) in one quarter.

Mr. Tatsuya Konoshita, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lease Public Company Limited, stated “the Company reissued its 2017 financial per the letter of the SEC. Due to the third quarter 2017 allowance the Company originally set up, there was no change in shareholders equity for 2017 and net income for 2017 actually improved. We will continue to work with the SEC and all regulators to provide clarity to the public and good corporate governance.”

“2018 is the year we said we will increase profitability and strengthen our operations for the future. We have shown this quarter we are moving in the right direction and our profitability increased even though the size of our business did not increase much. We want to convey the message to all investors that we are focused on the stability of the company. Operationally we are focused on improving the quality of our portfolio and our business processes as this will improve our foundation for future growth after 2019. Our operational profit is already clearly improving from 106.41 million to 134.69 million—growth of 27% in one quarter.”

“All countries continue to be profitable in the second quarter with Myanmar being our growth engine. We will continue to significantly grow the portfolio in Myanmar as it presents us with a tremendous opportunity with very low NPL. In other countries, we need to strategize our resources as competition and factors such as household debt require us to focus on the best customers. In Laos we still expect moderate growth and in Cambodia, we continue to be conservative due to competition and macroeconomic factors there. We expect some growth in Thailand due to improvements in quality, but we are being conservative about our lending and not focused solely on growing the Thailand portfolio. Indonesia provides us potential growth similar to Myanmar in the way of microfinancing, but in the near future we will maintain limited growth there as we wait to see how the currency stabilizes and for a longer period of microfinance performance before putting more capital to work there.”

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24 April 2018 : Group Lease Public Company Limited Files Lawsuit Due to Business Rehabilitation Case

Group Lease Public Company Limited Files Lawsuit Due to Business Rehabilitation Case

24 Apr 2018

Group Lease Public Company Limited (the “Company”) would like to update the public that on 11 April 2018, the Company filed a case against (1) J Trust Asia Pte. Ltd. (2) Mr. Nobuyoshi Fujisawa, Director of J Trust Asia Pte. Ltd. (3) Mr. Shigeyoshi Asano, Director of J Trust Asia Pte. Ltd., and (4) the legal advisor who provides legal advice for J Trust Asia Pte. Ltd. regarding the business rehabilitation of the Company, 4 persons in total. The criminal case was submitted to the Central Bankruptcy Court on the grounds that these 4 jointly submitted a petition for business rehabilitation against the Company, which was false in essence and falsely claimed that the Company falls under the requirements for business rehabilitation. This caused the Company to incur reputational damage and lose credibility amongst investors, which negatively affected the value of the shares of the Company. Thus, the Central Bankruptcy Court accepted our complaint and scheduled the date of trial to be on 25 June 2018 at 9.00 a.m.

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14 March 2018 : Update Information on Lawsuit Initiated by J Trust Asia Pte. Ltd. Against Group Lease Holdings Pte. Ltd.

Update Information on Lawsuit Initiated by J Trust Asia Pte. Ltd. Against Group Lease Holdings Pte. Ltd.

14 Mar 2018

Group Lease Public Company Limited (the “Company”) hereby updates the current situation in relation to the legal proceedings initiated by J Trust Asia Pte. Ltd. (“JTA”) against Group Lease Holdings Pte. Ltd. (“GLH”) as follows:

On 26 February 2018, the Company made a disclosure regarding the Singapore High Court issuing a Judgment setting aside and discharging the interim injunction order against GLH.

JTA is not entitled as of right to file an appeal against this decision. As such, it subsequently applied for leave to appeal this decision, as well as for the injunction to continue pending the appeal. On 5 March 2018, the Singapore High Court granted JTA’s application for leave to appeal but refused JTA’s application for an injunction pending appeal.

JTA then filed its appeal to the Singapore Court of Appeal, and shortly thereafter applied for the appeal to proceed on an expedited basis and repeated its application for an injunction pending appeal.

JTA’s application for an expedited appeal was granted on 12 March 2018. The date of the appeal hearing has however yet to be fixed.

JTA’s second application for an injunction pending appeal was dismissed on 14 March 2018. Moreover, the Singapore Court of Appeal awarded GLH costs of SGD 2,500.

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27 February 2018 : Clarification on Incorrect Statement and Misleading Information on J-Trust Disclosure

Clarification on Incorrect Statement and Misleading Information on J-Trust Disclosure

27 Feb 2018

We refer to the disclosure on “Acknowledgement for the Current Situation on Group Lease PCL (continuous Disclosure)” made on February 21 and February 23, 2018. The Disclosure were incorrect, false and misleading.

GL would like to clarify the following

Situations in Thailand:

  • JTRUST claims that JTA filed a civil complaint to claim compensation for the damages against GL, relevant directors of GL and Mr. Mitsuji Konoshita, and that all the claims have been successfully served.

    The fact is that the Civil Complaint against GL will not trial by Thai Court anytime soon because immediately after JTA filed this Civil Complaint, it filed a rehabilitation petition against GL which, according to Thai Bankruptcy Law, all pending civil claims against GL will have to be suspended until the it reaches to the outcomes as stipulated by Bankruptcy Act occurs.

    Therefore, JTRUST and JTA knowingly and intentionally misleads all its stakeholders as well as the Japanese securities exchange that its Civil Complaint can be pursued. JTRUST and JTA knew at the time of filing of the Civil Complaint that this case will not be heard by the Court until the rehabilitation case it filed against GL is dismissed and/or decided.

    JTRUST knowingly and intentionally omit to report and disclose to its stakeholders and Japanese securities exchange that if, for any reason whatsoever, the rehabilitation is dismissed, the legality of JTA’s termination of Investment Agreement will be subject to trial and it normally takes 3-5 years before the Civil Court will decide on this case and during such time, GL will have no obligation to pay any interest nor to redeem or repay the Convertible Debentures.

  • JTRUST and JTA states in its Disclosure that “Pursuant to the provision of the Bankruptcy Act in Thailand, GL shall not make any disposal, distribution or transfer, grant a lease, make repayment of debt, create debts or perform any action having the effect of creating any encumbrance over GL’s property except that it is an action necessary for the continuance of normal operation of their business.”

    JTRUST knowingly and intentionally omit to report to its stakeholders and Japanese Securities Exchange that the Thai Central Bankruptcy Court has, on February 16, 2018, permission to GL to continue making interest payments to its debenture or bond holders; i.e. Thai Baht Bonds and Creations Convertible Bonds. Therefore, GL shall continue its business operations as normal without any risk of default payment with all its other creditors.

    JTRUST made further untrue and false statement in its Disclosure that “However, GL has not made any payment to JTA in line with the investment agreement on the convertible debentures or by any means”. The fact is that (i) GL has made all payments under the convertible debentures to JTA when it was due, (ii) JTA has unlawfully terminated the investment agreement and the convertible debentures, thus, GL is not able to make any payment that still arguable in the court which initiated by JTA, and (iii) GL will continue to make payments under terms of the bonds and convertible debentures as approved by the Thai Bankruptcy Court except to JTA until there is final court decision on the unlawfully terminated CDs which GL believe would be from 3-5 years from now.


  • JTRUST and JTA made further untrue and misleading statement to all of its stakeholders and the Japanese securities exchange that “JTA filed a criminal complaint with the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) against GL, Mr. Mitsuji Konoshita and relevant person”, but knowingly and intentionally omit to report the following facts:

(i) the DSI already notified JTA that it does not have jurisdiction over the complaint made by JTA because the alleged offense were committed outside the Kingdom, and

(ii) JTA, as a foreign citizen, has no legal rights to file criminal claims from offences committed outside Thailand against a non-Thai subject.

GL is considering whether to take criminal action against JTRUST and / or JTA including its directors in Thailand on false filing, perjury as well as other criminal and civil offence (including the violation of the Thai Foreign Business Act and the SEC regulations on tender offer). 

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26 January 2018 : Court Rejects JTA Argument in Singapore, Allows GLH to Currently Continue Normal Operations

Court Rejects JTA Argument in Singapore, Allows GLH to Currently Continue Normal Operations

26 Jan 2018

During this month, J Trust Asia (“JTA”) has launched several lawsuits against Group Lease (“GL”) and our subsidiaries including in Thailand and Singapore. For each of these lawsuits, so far, the court has only heard JTA’s arguments and has only made decisions based only on the information JTA has provided since JTA started the lawsuits and due to court procedures, GL has not yet had a chance to respond. On January 25, 2018, in Singapore, the court for the first time heard both JTA and GL’s arguments together. JTA asked the court to immediately prevent Group Lease Holdings (“GLH”), our Singapore holding company whose purpose is to manage GL’s investments, from selling assets and transferring capital between our subsidiaries. Buying and selling assets and transferring capital between our subsidiaries is the ordinary business of GLH. After hearing both JTA and GL, the court denied JTA’s request to immediately prevent GLH from performing its ordinary business. While this is a small victory, it is the first time a court has heard both JTA and GL at the same time—and GL won. We look forward to continuing the fight against JTA and hope this is the start of many victories for GL.

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13 October 2017 : We Express Our Deepest Condolences and Appreciation to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej

We Express Our Deepest Condolences and Appreciation to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej

13 Oct 2017

One year ago, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away peacefully. His Majesty’s life ended as he lived it—peacefully. His Majesty will be forever remembered in our hearts for the countless blessings and life lessons he gave Thailand. From his many charitable projects to help the poor, his strong support of education, and his love of jazz, His Majesty spent his entire life helping and improving the lives of all people in Thailand.

While our hearts are filled with sorrow at the loss of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, we are thankful for all of the accomplishments he has given us. We will forever continue to look at how he lived his life and honor him by living our lives as he lived his.

We convey our sincerest condolences to the Queen, the entire Royal Family, and all Thai people during this time.

Mitsuji Konoshita

Chairman & CEO

And Management & staff

Group Lease Public Company Limited

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05 October 2017 : GL employees and customers work together for our beloved king.

GL employees and customers work together for our beloved king.

05 Oct 2017

Group Lease Pcl. Announces Free Transportation for Late King’s Royal Cremation Ceremony.

 

‘GL employees and customers work together for our beloved king.’

Group Lease Public Company Limited and its subsidiary Thanaban Company Limited has announced that it will provide free transportation around Samean Naree Temple, which is one of the main venues for the Royal Funeral and Cremation ceremony, to serve the public and help them to pay their respect to His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Group Lease Pcl. will organize the project “Tum Dee Puer Por”(Do good for our beloved father) to provide free transportation service for the public on 26 Oct 2017. The Company will set up 3 pickup points; Bon Marché market, Prachaniwet Stadium and Klong Prem Central Prison. The Company announced that 209(Two hundred and ‘nine’) motorcycle riders will volunteer on the day. Riders will consist of 100 Company’s employees and more than 100 professional motorcycle taxi drivers, a major of which are customers of the Company. The Company will sponsor all the motorcycle drivers on that day.

“It will be a great opportunity for the Company and the employees to work together with customers for the welfare of the public. So, there will be additional 107 employees who will work as a service volunteers to facilitate the activities”. said the COO of the Company Mr. Muneo Tashiro. Group Lease Pcl’s strategic partners, AP Honda Co., Ltd. and Thai Yamaha Motor Co.,ltd. and motorcycle dealer partners will also cooperate in this event. The transportation service will start from 7:30 am until 6:00pm.

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25 September 2017 : GL: Towards Asia’s Fintech Leader

GL: Towards Asia's Fintech Leader

25 Sep 2017

SET-listed digital finance firm Group Lease Public Company Limited (GL) is fully committed to turning itself into a leading Fintech company in the Asian region over the next five years, its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mitsuji Konoshita has announced.

The company’s expansion and development towards Fintech leadership in Asia will be driven by its efficient and cost-effective Digital Finance platform, which is currently being implemented in seven Asian countries. These markets include its home market in Thailand plus neighboring Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Singapore, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.

Underscoring its emphasis on IT development to support financial services, GL has doubled its IT development staffs to approximately 350 over the past half year and is constantly upgrading its IT capabilities. GL’s Digital Finance platform encompasses the entire process from the scoring of loan applicants to the payment of monthly instalments by clients.

Going forward, Mr. Konoshita is particularly bullish on the growth potential in Myanmar and Indonesia, where he has projected that GL’s loan portfolios will jump to US$1 billion and “several billions” respectively over the next five years.

Even though Myanmar and Indonesia are new markets for GL, both countries have been able to contribute to revenue and profit and Mr. Konoshita asserted that the growth potentials of both markets are enormous.

GL posted 338 million baht in net profit in the second quarter this year, representing a 32% increase from the same period last year and marking a new record-high profit for the 11th consecutive quarter. This was due to improved performance in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Indonesia even though the recent performance from Cambodia has been stable. Additionally, GL’s investment in Sri Lanka continues to contribute to profit as planned. Though Myanmar operations just started this year for GL, growth has been phenomenal as the number of microfinance group loan clients jumped four-fold to about 40,000 in just five months. BGMM, GL’s wholly-owned micro-finance subsidiary, was recently granted permission by the Myanmar government authorities to extend the group loan business to six new provinces on top of the three provinces where it had already been operating. This should bring in additional clients and revenue going forward.

The Indonesian operations are also expanding rapidly. PT Group Lease Finance Indonesia (GLFI) recently signed an agreement with TATA Motor Distribusi Indonesia (TMDI) to become the first-choice finance company for TMDI dealers in Indonesia. Under the agreement, GL staff will be physically located in TMDI showrooms to provide finance for TATA’s clients.

The TATA agreement should provide additional momentum for growth in Indonesia on top of the “channeling services” that GLFI undertakes for its strategic partner J-Trust Asia (JTA) in the financing of motorcycle, asset-backed loans, agricultural machinery, and micro-finance loans

According to research on GL recently published by brokerage firm DBS Vickers Securities, GL’s Myanmar businesses will be second in size only to Indonesia in the long run. “Myanmar’s motorcycle market is large (three times that of Cambodia) while the people’s exposure to the finance market is very low,” the paper stated.

Like GLF in Cambodia, GL-AMMK, GL’s joint venture with one of Myanmar’s leading beverage distributors, also has an exclusive agreement to finance Honda motorcycles in Myanmar. Honda’s market share in Myanmar currently is very low, only 10% (compared to 95% in Cambodia), which means there is huge room for growth as Honda’s market shares increases as expected.

Aside from hire-purchase loans, DBS Vickers said there is also huge potential in SME loans (inventory financing) given the extensive network of about 22,000 agents/grocery shops of the AMMK group.

“Things (in Myanmar and Indonesia) might have been a bit slow at the start. But now that our operating systems and other infrastructures have been set up, we will be expanding by leaps and bounds from now on,” Mr. Konoshita stated.

He added that Indonesia will be the largest market for GL over the next five years. The company has now penetrated into many rural areas on all the main islands where there are virtually no competitors. The GL chairman has estimated that the Indonesian operations will expand strongly to be worth “several billion” US dollars.

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06 September 2017 : BGMM Receives Permission to take Deposits, Allowing for Local & Low-Cost Funds

BGMM Receives Permission to take Deposits, Allowing for Local & Low-Cost Funds

06 Sep 2017

Group Lease Public Company Limited (“the Company”) would like to announce BGMM received permission to take deposits in Myanmar as follows:

BG Microfinance Myanmar Company Limited (“BGMM”), GL’s microfinance subsidiary in Myanmar, has received permission from the Myanmar government authorities to take voluntary deposits from individuals after having three years of continued operations and at least two years of continued profitability. BGMM is the first GL subsidiary to have obtained permission to take deposits. This will give BGMM another source of funds that is both low-cost and in the local currency, the Myanmar Kyat, reducing the need for funding from GL. As BGMM continues to grow, the BGMM will take advantage of this new offering to attract more customers and strengthen its ability to increase income while also reducing the exchange risk of the Company.

BGMM has already seen strong growth since it was acquired by GL. BGMM more than tripled the amount of loans being disbursed each month in only four months from MMK 311 million in February 2017 to MMK 1,134 million in June 2017. That has driven BGMM’s total loan portfolio to more than double from MMK 1,890 million to MMK 3,876 million during that time, in large part due to BGMM’s ability to attract new customers from only 10,479 in February 2017 to 21,101 by June 2017. At BGMM and GL, we look forward to continuing to grow and helping the Myanmar people.

LINK-GL Business group

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