Chesswood Group, a North American commercial equipment finance provider for small and medium-size businesses, reported its second-quarter results for the period ended June 30.
Chesswood's gross finance receivables grew to $804 million in the quarter driven by record second quarter originations of $114 million, a 31 percent increase from $87 million in the second quarter of last year. Net income also increased to $5.6 million from $3.7 million in the second quarter of 2017, and to $11.5 million in the first six months of this year compared to $8.4 million in the same period last year.
"We continue to expand our business relationship with our customers. As we fund transactions from A to C in credit quality, we offer our broker-customers a one-stop shop for their funding needs," said Barry Shafran, Chesswood's President and CEO. "And our customers have responded by embracing our programs along with our high service levels."
Between the adoption of IFRS 9 in 2018, the repayment of the company's convertible debentures in early January 2018 and the lower foreign exchange rates compared to last year, there are a number of meaningful adjustments required to compare the second quarter and six-month operating income this year with the same periods in 2017.
Chesswood generated its Canadian dollar results even though the U.S. exchange rate for the six months ended June 30, 2018, were converted at an exchange rate of 1.2781, which was the average exchange rate for the period (2017 - 1.3343). This lower exchange rate compared to the same quarter in 2017 understates the improvement in our 2018 U.S. operating results compared to the same period in 2017 by $935,000.
Net income in the second quarter of 2017 was lowered by a non-cash loss of approximately $1.1 million on Chesswood's holdings of shares of Dealnet Capital Corp.
Through two wholly-owned subsidiaries in the U.S. and Canada, Chesswood Group Limited is North America’s only publicly-traded commercial equipment finance company focused on small and medium-sized businesses. The company's Colorado-based Pawnee Leasing Corporation, founded in 1982, finances a highly diversified portfolio of commercial equipment leases and loans through established relationships with over 600 independent brokers in 48 U.S. states. In Canada, Blue Chip Leasing Corporation has been originating and servicing commercial equipment leases and loans since 1996, and today operates through a nationwide network of more than 50 independent brokers.