XTXFX Business Plan — Executive Summary

A digitally-originated micro-lender: R45m seed, R85m Series A, R283.6m gross loan book and R16.0m profit after tax by Year 5.

Executive Summary

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  • 1.1 The proposition
  • 1.2 What an investor should take from this plan
  • 1.3 Financial summary
  • 1.4 Investment conclusion

1.1 The proposition

XTXFX Financial Technologies South Africa (Pty) Ltd is a proposed digitally-originated, NCR-registered credit provider offering regulated short-term and unsecured personal credit to formally employed South Africans earning between R6 000 and R25 000 a month. XTXFX originates through mobile web, WhatsApp and USSD, underwrites using credit bureau data, verified bank transaction data and employer verification, and collects through DebiCheck authenticated debit orders.

XTXFX in six lines

What it is

An NCR-registered digital micro-lender operating two regulated credit products under the National Credit Act 34 of 2005

Who it serves

Formally employed South Africans earning R6 000 to R25 000 a month — a segment underserved by banks and poorly served by branch-based cash lenders

How it makes money

Regulated interest, initiation fees, monthly service fees and credit life intermediary income, with prescribed fee income close to half of total revenue

Capital required

R45 million seed equity at close, a Series A of approximately R85 million in Year 3, and a senior debt facility scaling to roughly R132 million

Financial outcome

Loss-making in Years 1 and 2 with a peak accumulated deficit of R21.5 million; profitable from Year 3; Year 5 revenue of R138.5 million and profit after tax of R16.0 million on a closing book of R283.6 million

The central risk

Credit losses. The business breaks even at a loss rate of 15.3% of amounts disbursed against a base case of 11.6%. Headroom is real but not generous

R138.5m

Year 5 revenue

R16.0m

Year 5 profit after tax

R283.6m

Year 5 gross loan book

15.3%

Break-even loss rate

1.2 What an investor should take from this plan

  • The lawful interest ceiling is 24.85 per cent, not 35.40 per cent. Section 103 sets the unsecured maximum at the repurchase rate multiplied by 2.2 plus 10 percentage points. At a 6.75 per cent repo that is 24.85 per cent, and the Term product is priced at 23.0 per cent inside it. Pricing at 32 per cent would be unlawful conduct exposing every agreement to being declared unlawful, and the repricing removes R16.7 million from Year 5 revenue against a plan built on the wrong ceiling.
  • This is a capital-intensive lending business, not a capital-light technology business. A loan book must be funded. Roughly R130 million of equity across two rounds supports approximately R6.0 million of cumulative net profit over five years. The return case rests on the terminal value of a performing R284 million book and a registered, compliant lending franchise — not on five-year earnings.
  • The regulated price is fixed and has not moved in nominal terms since May 2016. XTXFX cannot price its way out of a credit problem, and roughly half of revenue is prescribed in nominal rand whose real value has eroded by about half over a decade. Every rand of value is therefore created in underwriting and collections.
  • The model is unusually sensitive to a single variable. A credit loss rate of 15.3 per cent of disbursements eliminates Year 5 profitability entirely, against a base case of 11.6 per cent. An investor should treat the credit committee, the scorecard and the collections operation as the substance of the investment, and everything else as supporting infrastructure.
Revenue and profitability trajectory. Losses in Years 1 and 2 are the fixed cost of a compliant platform ahead of book scale, together with elevated first-vintage credit losses
Figure 1. Revenue and profitability trajectory. Losses in Years 1 and 2 are the fixed cost of a compliant platform ahead of book scale, together with elevated first-vintage credit losses.

1.3 Financial summary

R million

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Loans disbursed, number

6 550

20 600

39 200

57 500

75 000

Value disbursed

30.9

109.8

227.1

353.5

480.0

Interest income

3.9

14.5

30.6

48.4

66.3

Initiation fees

3.1

10.2

20.2

30.5

40.6

Monthly service fees

1.9

6.7

13.5

20.7

27.9

Credit life commission

0.1

0.6

1.5

2.6

3.6

Total revenue

9.1

32.0

65.9

102.2

138.5

Credit losses

(5.1)

(15.1)

(26.7)

(41.2)

(55.6)

Credit loss as % of disbursed

16.5%

13.7%

11.8%

11.7%

11.6%

EBITDA

(9.8)

(6.8)

5.1

18.5

33.2

Profit / (loss) after tax

(11.1)

(10.5)

0.7

10.8

16.0

Closing gross loan book

13.2

54.0

121.9

201.3

283.6

Closing cash

17.5

5.0

5.0

5.0

5.0

The unsecured interest ceiling. The formula is (repo × 2.2) + 10%
Figure 2. The unsecured interest ceiling. The formula is (repo × 2.2) + 10%.

1.4 Investment conclusion

Measure

Result

Basis

Seed equity

R45.0m

At close; loan book capital, platform build, registration and the operating deficit to break-even

Series A equity

R85.0m

Year 3, on two full vintages of demonstrated credit performance

Senior debt facility at peak

R131.5m

Drawn against eligible receivables at 14.0%

Total capital deployed

R261.5m

Equity and debt combined at peak

Year 5 revenue

R138.5m

On R480.0m of disbursements across 75 000 loans

Year 5 profit after tax

R16.0m

A net margin of 11.6%

Year 5 gross loan book

R283.6m

Net of a 6% expected credit loss provision

Cumulative profit after tax

R6.0m

Across five years, against R130.0m of equity raised

Peak accumulated deficit

(R21.5m)

At the end of Year 2; funded from the seed round

First profitable year

Year 3

Marginally, at R0.7m

Break-even credit loss rate

15.3%

Against a base case of 11.6% — 3.7 points of headroom