UT Financial Services Limited yesterday sent strong signals to the market with its 2009 forecasts, which appear quite ambitious. The leading non-bank financial institution in the country hopes to increase its interest income by 30% this year, even though it does not intend to increase its lending rates. It is targeting an interest expense increment of 60%, while profit after tax is expected to grow by 30% this year. The company provided the forecast when it took its turn at a 'Facts behind the Figures' programme, which was organised by the Ghana Stock Exchange. It afforded the executive management team led by its Chief Executive, Prince Kofi Amoabeng, the opportunity to interact with stockbrokers, investors, financial journalists, and a section of the general public on the. performance of the company, and its outlook. Mrs. Pearl Esua-Mensah, Director of Finance and Administration of UT Financial Services, who gave details of the outlook, said the company is bent on increasing its loan portfolio by 30%, and loans disbursed will also be increased by 20% this year. She said the company is looking to reduce its non­performing loans by one percent to eight percent. She explained that one of the initiatives the company has adopted to meet its targets is to push for volume on the wings of branch expansion, and improve efficiency to reduce costs without increasing lending rates. Consequently the company hopes to open branches at Koforidua in the Eastern Region and at Obuasi in the Ashanti Region this month, with another branch slated for Cape Coast in the Central Region by the end of the year. Already, the company has opened a branch at Ho in the Volta Region, which is doing well. Mrs. Esua-Mensah is hopeful that the four new branches opened last year will soon begin to contribute to the company's bottom-line, in view of the fact that it takes between eight and 12 months to break-even. She said the challenges confronting the company are the effects of the global financial crisis, high cost of borrowing in the current economic climate, depreciation of the cedi against the dollar and other major Currencies, restoring consumer confidence in the economy, and staying ahead of competition. "Last year, UT Financial Services achieved a 17% growth in its interest income, while interest expense jumped by 72%. It managed to achieve a single-digit for provision for bad debt by reducing it from 14% in 2007 to nine% in 2008. Mr. Amoabeng said last year saw a tremendous transformation of the company in major areas, Which included the company becoming publicly-owned after being listed on the stock exchange, and enjoyed the highest-ever offer on the exchange - bigger than all indigenous company offers on the exchange put together. It was over-subscribed by GH¢27 million, and registered a 10% gain on its first day. "Furthermore, we embarked on a name and a logo change, which was quite tasking but we were able to carry it through successfully. The underpinning reason for this exercise was to allow the company flexibility and adaptability as we expand to new frontiers operationally and geographically." Source: B&FT