BEST S A : Group – good results, strong balance

The listed financial group generated revenues of PLN 360.8 million in the nine months of 2022, 45% more than a year earlier. The net result attributable to the Company's shareholders rose to PLN 131.9 million, up from PLN 60.1 million in the 9 months of 2022. The Group entered the final quarter of 2022 with less than PLN 377 million of net debt and its lowest ratio to equity (at 0.56) in eight years.

In the nine months of 2022. BEST Group reported an increase in recoveries from managed debt portfolios. Total recoveries amounted to PLN 319.2 million, up from PLN 304.2 million in the same period of 2021. Repayments due to the Group increased by 6%, to PLN 283 million. Cash EBITDA in the period under review amounted to almost PLN 159 million, 6% lower than a year ago, driven in part by an increasingly challenging economic environment affecting both the cost of doing business and the deterioration in the financial situation of the Group's customers. The key contributor to the increase in revenue and profit was the revaluation of debt portfolios under management of PLN 112 million.

In the nine months of 2022, the Group allocated PLN 59 million to the purchase of new debt portfolios, in Poland and Italy, with a nominal value of over PLN 239 million. Continued high repayments from managed portfolios allowed the Group to simultaneously invest in business scale growth and reduce interest-bearing debt during the analysed period. 'Thanks to the hard work of the entire GK BEST team in recent years, we entered the difficult period of the Polish and global economy in a very good financial condition. Today, our strong foundations allow us both to effectively face current challenges, such as the skyrocketing inflation, and to implement our long-term development plan. We expect that the coming quarters will not be easy, but we look at them as a set of opportunities. We have plenty of potential to make good use of this period,' comments Marek Kucner, Vice President of the Management Board of BEST S.A.

Since the beginning of the year, BEST S.A. has redeemed bonds with a nominal value of PLN 146 million. As the president of the listed company declares, corporate bonds are to remain one of the important sources of financing the Group's development in the following years. 'We are pleased with our long-standing relationship to date with bond investors, institutional and individual, who have made a substantial contribution to our success. In the secondary market, we are seeing high demand for our bonds, influenced in our view by an impeccable debt service history. The prospectus for a bond programme of up to PLN 250 million, approved a few weeks ago, gives us the flexibility to respond to the situation in our industry and the financial markets. We are considering carrying out a bond issue as soon as this autumn; we should make a decision on it in the near future,' informs Marek Kucner.

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Information on BEST S.A.

BEST Capital Group is one of the largest debt collection companies in Poland, and it invests actively in non-performing claims portfolios using securitisation funds. BEST S.A. has been listed at the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW) since 1997.

BEST, as a member and co-founder of the Association of Financial Companies in Poland, and a co-founder and moderator of the Good Debt Collection Practice actively contributes to the development and shaping of the claims market in Poland.

In 2021, repayments from the managed claim portfolios due to BEST Group reached nearly PLN 400 million, operating revenues amounted to over PLN 339 million and adjusted cash EBITDA exceeded PLN 218 million. The carrying amount of the managed claim portfolios at the end of 2021 was over PLN 1 billion.