Mogo Inc. (MOGO) Reports Q1 Core Revenues of $12.2M

Mogo Inc. (NASDAQ: MOGO) reported Q1 core revenue for the quarter came in at $12.2 million, versus $11.3 million reported last year.

Q1 2020 Business Highlights

• Active members increased 26% year over year to 1,022,000 at quarter end, placing Mogo among the largest fintech companies in Canada by total members.
• Sold the majority of our MogoLiquid loan portfolio to goeasy Ltd. (“goeasy”) for gross consideration of $31.6 million. In conjunction with the sale of the MogoLiquid loan portfolio, we repaid and extinguished one of our two credit facilities, which held an outstanding balance of $29.3 million at year end.
• Signed a three-year lending partnership with goeasy following a successful pilot program that started in October 2019. The partnership enables Mogo to fully monetize our lending platform and drive new recurring fee-based revenue with no capital investment or risk of these loans.
• Amended and extended the marketing collaboration agreement with Postmedia Network Inc. until January 2023.
• Successful beta launch of carbon offset program for MogoSpend. For every dollar spent using the Mogo Visa* Platinum Prepaid Card, Mogo will offset one pound of CO2 on the consumer’s behalf. Full card rollout expected in Q3 2020.
• Subsequent to Q1 2020, in May 2020, amended certain terms of our 10% convertible senior secured debentures previously set to mature on May 31, 2020. The amendments include, among other things, extending the maturity date of the convertible debentures to May 31, 2022.

Q1 2020 Financial Highlights

• Core revenue2 increased by 7% to $12.2 million, compared with $11.3 million in the same period in 2019. Revenue was $13.9 million, a decrease of 7% compared to $14.9 million in the same period last year.
• Adjusted EBITDA1 was $0.5 million, compared with $2.2 million in the first quarter of 2019. This decrease is primarily attributable to a $1.2 million increase in provision for loan losses in Q1 2020 as a result of COVID-19. This provision is not the result of any significant increase in COVID-19 related defaults to date, but rather an upfront provision recognized for potential future losses on the existing book as at March 31, 2020, giving weight to the possibility that the economic conditions surrounding COVID-19 worsen or persist longer than expected.
• Adjusted cash net loss1 for Q1 2020 was ($5.2) million, an increase of 32% compared to ($4.0) million in the same period last year. Net loss1 was ($10.1) million, compared with ($5.0) million in the same period of 2019.
• At March 31, 2020, the Company had $25.5 million in combined cash and investment portfolio ($6.5 million of Cash and $19.0 million investment portfolio).

“In the past several months, we’ve made significant changes – both financially and strategically – in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic impact. We thank our team members who have done an unbelievable job during these challenging times,” said David Feller, Mogo’s Founder and CEO. “It’s clear that financial health is more important than ever, and consumers will increasingly look for a mobile-first digital solution to help them achieve this. With one million members and more than $250 million invested to date, our leading digital platform remains a unique and valuable asset in the Canadian market. Among the changes we have made recently, we are expanding our monetization strategy to include a new referral model for the financial products we do not offer today. This new referral strategy will provide a simpler, faster path to monetization and additional fee-based revenue streams.”

“As we outlined in a recent business update and COVID-19 response, we have taken quick and decisive action to navigate both the near-term economic uncertainty as well as create a leaner, more efficient cost structure that better positions our business for the long term,” said Greg Feller, President and CFO. “In addition to temporarily stopping loan originations, which has an immediate positive impact on cash flow, we have reduced cash operating expenses by approximately 50% in Q2 2020 as compared to Q4 2019. These two actions, along with the strong performance of our loan portfolio, which has seen record-low defaults in April and May and above-average principal paydowns, are expected to result in positive cash flow from operations net of investing activities of $5-$6 million for Q2 2020. We have been in this business for more than 15 years and always believed this portfolio – made up of small-dollar loans with low regular payments – would be resilient during extremely challenging times.”

Mr. Feller added: “We have significantly improved our overall balance sheet health in 2020, highlighted by the first-quarter sale of the majority of our MogoLiquid loan portfolio, subsequent debt reduction, and the recent amendment and extension of our convertible debentures to 2022. Once we see market conditions stabilize, we plan to slowly resume on-balance-sheet lending, in addition to expanding our lending partnerships and introducing new referral models to further monetize our member base. Access to responsible credit solutions remains one of the pillars to financial health, and we have deep capabilities and data as well as the most convenient mobile-first loan experience in Canada.”

COVID-19 Impact

In light of the uncertain economic environment, Mogo has undertaken a number of initiatives to support our customers as well as reduce expenses and more efficiently manage our capital resources. Specific actions and results include:

• In March 2020, we temporarily paused new on-balance-sheet loan offers, instead focusing on servicing our existing members and loan customers, and directed a certain portion of the reduced loan demand to our lending partner.
• To date we have provided approximately 5% of our loan customers with some form of relief, including reduced interest and deferred payments, with less than half of these customers still on relief as at the date of this filing. In the second quarter to date, we have also experienced a decrease in the rate of customer default relative to historical levels.
• Operating expense reduction initiatives with an estimated $5.0 million reduction in Q2 2020 operating cash costs relative to the fourth quarter of 2019, with a focus on deferring growth investments in technology and development and marketing. Included in this target reduction are cash personnel costs that are capitalized to intangible assets. Some of these cost reductions relate to variable expenses such as marketing, for which some increase would be expected if we were to resume a higher level of loan originations.
• Reductions to headcount include natural attrition and both temporary and permanent layoffs. As of today, we have seen a reduction in headcount of over 40% since December 31, 2019, of which 40% have become permanent.
• Implemented temporary salary reductions including a 40% reduction for our CEO and President & CFO, 5-20% for most of our other salaried employees and reduced hours for the majority of other hourly based employees.
• In April 2020, we exercised our option to capitalize interest payments for Q2 2020 of our non-convertible subordinated debentures, rather than making monthly interest payments in cash. By contrast, Mogo paid $1.5 million of cash interest in respect of these debentures in Q1 2020.

Financial Outlook

We expect that our cost reduction initiatives combined with the temporary suspension of new loan offers and the strong performance of our existing loan portfolio to date, will significantly improve our cash flow from operations net of investing activities in the second quarter of 2020.

• In Q1 2020, we reported net cash (used in) operating and investing activities of ($4.3) million, before one-time proceeds from the sale of the MogoLiquid loan portfolio.
• In Q2 2020, we expect to report net cash generated from operating and investing activities of positive $5.0 million to $6.0 million, an improvement of $9.3 million to $10.3 million compared to Q1 2020, excluding one-time proceeds from the MogoLiquid loan portfolio.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Mogo Inc. (MOGO) click here.

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