Dolla Financial to raise more funds to grow loan book

Microlender Dolla Financial Services Limited aims to grow its loan book by half, this year, from $4 billion to $6 billion.

The company will focus on improving profit as well as raising new funds for disbursement as loans in the latter part of 2025 in order to achieve its goal.

“We will be seeing the benefits of those [earlier] disbursements as we move into the first quarter and second quarter of 2025 and as we continue to raise funds to grow the business further in the third quarter,” said Dolla Financial CEO Kenroy Kerr at the latest Mayberry Investor Forum this month.

Last year, Dolla Financial doubled its loan book to $4 billion, utilising funds raised on the debt market to write new loans.

“Based on our analysis. We want to raise $2 billion to $2.5 billion this year,” said Dolla’s Chief Financial Officer Trevene McKenzie at the forum.

The microfinancier made $450 million profit for its full year ending December 2024, an improvement of eight per cent relative to year 2023. It comes amid a slight uptick in its non-performing loans, or NPLs, which are loans not serviced for more than 90 days. Dolla’s NPLs hover at around nine per cent, but the CFO said it still stood below the industry average of about 16 per cent.

“Last year was an interesting year in terms of the economy. There was uncertainty, and we had a couple of loans on the books that went into a non-performing state. Nothing to worry about because as you know, these loans are secured,” said McKenzie, who expects NPLs to fall back to around eight per cent.

The microfinancier’s current loan portfolio includes $1.5 billion managed through subsidiary company Ultra Financial, which specialises in larger loans that are backed by stocks or luxury items as collateral. Ultra Financial CEO David Henriques said the company “wants a loan book of $2.5 billion” by the end of 2025. He thinks it is achievable since Ultra’s loan book hit its current position in under two years, with a team of three. The typical loan size averages $12 million, with a $100-million limit at Ultra.

steven.jackson@gleanerjm.com