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Aforti Group buys LifeBelt, a debt collection company
The Aforti Collections company belonging to the Group, dealing with claims management for companies from the SME sector, has acquired 76.9% of shares in LifeBelt, a Lublin company specializing in, among others, mass debt collection at the request of banks, loan companies, telecoms, and other debt collectors.
The merger of the companies – as a result of which it is assumed that the companies are to operate under the shared Aforti Collections brand – will allow the AFORTI Group, first of all, to efficiently transfer the solutions used in mass debt collection to the SME sector serviced by Aforti Collections. As part of extending the proceeds of the AFORTI Group on the domestic debt collection market, Aforti Collections acquired 300 LifeBelt shares with a nominal value of PLN 1,000 each. The transaction value – due to trade secret – has not been disclosed. The legal and operational merger is planned for the fourth quarter of 2018.
After the companies merge, it is the Aforti Collections experts that are to be responsible for the sales processes. In addition, the same experts are to provide debt collection projects services using the potential of the AFORTI Group shared services centre guaranteeing IT support, accounting and HR services, as well as legal and marketing services. Aforti Collections will also develop a common commercial strategy that will take into account the know-how of both entities and their experience in the debt collection sector. LifeBelt, on the other hand, will complement the personnel structures of Aforti Collections by the inclusion of an experienced team of managers, and provide an innovative, original IT system enabling effective debt collection services for large, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs offering B2B services.
AFORTI Group has successfully begun the second half of 2018
Subsidiaries of Aforti Holding S.A., the Capital Group parent company listed on the NewConnect market, providing financial services for the SME sector, have presented their estimated operational and sales results for July 2018. The Aforti Group has successfully begun the second half of the year.
From the beginning of the year to the end of July, Aforti Finance S.A. provided entrepreneurs with 347 loans (increase by 35.55% year-on-year) totalling PLN 36.05m, which means an increase by 109.09% year-on-year. Whereas, 2,347 entrepreneurs (increase by 100.61%) submitting applications for the total amount of over PLN 293.97m (increase by 246.70%) applied for a loan.
“In July, we launched a television advertising campaign. We noted a significant increase in the number of loan applications already after the first month. We have also observed a significant demand of domestic entrepreneurs for quick access to development capital. I can certainly say that the non-bank loan market will continue to grow due to invariably high costs of conducting business activity, associated with employee retention, production, taxes, and social claims,” says Klaudiusz Sytek, President of Aforti Holding S.A. Management Board.
In the last months, Aforti Exchange S.A., which runs an online currency exchange platform, has been breaking further records. From the beginning of 2018, Polish customers of the Company have made exchange transactions amounting to over EUR 131.15m, which is an increase by 240.66% vs 2017.
Aforti Exchange Romania S.A., on the other hand, has recorded a turnover of EUR 24.68m in the same period.
“The turnover of Aforti Exchange both in Poland and in Romania has been growing from month to month. We’ve been constantly acquiring new Customers. Currently, we focus on presenting our activity on the Romanian market from a broader perspective by conducting activities associated with, among others, the presence of our brand in Romanian media,” says Klaudiusz Sytek, President of Aforti Holding S.A. Management Board.
At the end of July, the Aforti Collections S.A. debt collection company had 1,355 orders in its portfolio, the total nominal value of which amounted to PLN 10.12m and was by 36.83% lower vs the previous year.
“In July, we acquired another 8 significant orders. We also decided to remodify our internal structure in order to increase the efficiency of our activities. It should be kept in mind that in accordance with what we communicated at the beginning of the year, our policy associated with the acceptance of orders has been changed, therefore, for a certain period of time, the year-on-year results will still show a downward trend. Shortly, this trend shall change,” says Klaudiusz Sytek.
By the end of July 2018, Aforti Factor S.A., the youngest yet rapidly developing company from the Group, operating in the factoring segment, financed claims worth nearly PLN 10.86m.
“We are gradually increasing the scale of our activities, among others through educational activities which are an added value for our Customers and contribute to the popularization of the service among the entrepreneurs as an alternative to other services associated with financial support for companies from the SME sector. The factoring market is growing dynamically – already over 15,000 companies use this service, seeing this as an opportunity to secure an adequate level of financial liquidity and treating the service as a favourable circumstance to invest in the development of their businesses,” says the President of Aforti Holding S.A. Management Board.
1000 biggest companies according to Gazeta Finansowa
We are pleased to announce that in the recently published by Gazeta Finansowa report “1000 Biggest Companies”, Aforti Holding was classified at 664th position. The presence in the ranking confirms our settled position in the industry as well as constant development. Our company’s revenues in 2017 amounted to PLN 190,582,000.00.
1000 Biggest companies in Poland – download the report in a PDF format.
Aforti Finance is launching a TV campaign
Aforti Finance S.A. The spot shows an example of a beginning entrepreneur who, thanks to a loan from Aforti Finance, manages to quickly and efficiently develop a company. The promotional spots will be aired on nationwide Polish channels, such as TVP and Polsat, as well as on thematic TVN channels.
Both business and marketing media have been writing widely about our campaign.
We encourage you to read an article about the campaign published in Puls Biznesu. The article is available under the following link.
AFORTI Group enhancing the team
AFORTI, a dynamically growing Financial Holding, is not slowing down and focuses no only on the implementation of the Business Strategy for the years 2018-2020, but also on HR development. At the beginning of July 2018, Aforti Holding S.A. and Aforti Finance S.A. – the subsidiaries of the AFORTI Group – welcomed new employees: Piotr Klinowski and Tomasz Kaźmierski who took managerial posts in the Group.
Piotr Klinowski became Director Generale at Aforti Holding. He will be in charge of the investment development of the AFORTI Group, both on the domestic and foreign markets. Mr Klinowski has been dealing with the financial industry for more than 20 years. He deepened his professional experience in companies such as: Bank ING, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, and Vestor Brokerage House. Recently he used to work in brokerage houses as a member of the management board and managing director in charge of sales and sale support areas.
At the beginning of July 2018, Aforti Finance was also joined by Tomasz Kaźmierski who became Vice President. Mr Kaźmierski developed his 16-year career by cooperating with the largest financial companies in Poland, such as Deutsche Bank Poland, in which he worked as the Head of Sales Department, and Capital Service, where he served as the Head of Sales Department and
a Member of the Management Board. As Aforti Finance Vice President, Mr Kaźmierski will continue his work in sales and be responsible for an efficient management of the subordinate structure in Poland and other countries where Aforti Finance carries out, or plans to carry out, its operating activities.
At the beginning of April 2018, the AFORTI Group launched a new strategy for the years
2018-2020. Its major aspects are: entry of Aforti Holding into the WSE main trading floor, going public with two companies from AFORTI Group, starting leasing operations, foreign expansion into at least 7 new countries, as well as development of a network of branches and outlets all across Poland. The Group is also focused on a dynamic growth of its HR while hiring subsequent professionals and experts from the field in order to increase its position on the Polish financial market even more.
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The AFORTI Group is a financial holding that provides lending, debt collection and factoring services for micro-enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises and manages an online currency exchange platform for companies. In Q1 2018 alone, the Group’s operational profit amounted to PLN 1.33 million. In addition, the net revenue of the Group after Q1 2018 – totalling PLN 99.9 million – is 200% higher than that of the analogous period in the previous year.
These excellent financial results were achieved by AFORTI Group thanks to a constantly growing demand of the SME sector for external financing and professional support in the management of debt collection and factoring processes. Good prospects for the industries in which Aforti Finance, Aforti Exchange, Aforti Collections and Aforti Factor carry out their business activities provide the Group with a high growth potential in the next quarters of 2018.