Fellow Finance warns on lower profits due to aggressive expansion plans
PUBLICLY-LISTED peer-to-peer lender Fellow Finance has lowered its full-year guidance, blaming lower-than-expected loan volumes and aggressive international expansion.
The Nordic P2P platform, which floated on the First North Finland Market last year, said on Friday that it expects a year-on-year decline in adjusted core earnings and anticipates group net sales to grow by over 20 per cent.
Its previous guidance had indicated growth in adjusted core earnings and more than 30 per cent growth in group net sales for 2019.
Read more: Fellow Finance breaks lending record in January
“Based on the preliminary unaudited results of the first half of 2019 and the business performance in July, Fellow Finance lowers its guidance for full year 2019,” the firm said.
“The main reasons for the change in guidance is the lower than expected intermediated loan volume and decision to execute the international expansion strategy of the company more aggressively.”
Fellow Finance publishes its first half results on 23 August.
The Finland-headquartered firm was one of the first European P2P lenders to go public after Portugal’s Raize and UK platform Funding Circle. Its share price has fallen by almost a third in the past few months, amid challenging macro conditions.
