Financial Results March 2008

The 2007/08 financial year was a good one for Prometheus, particularly given the background of considerable turmoil on the financial markets. The good performance we reported in October last year continued, albeit more steadily over the second half of the year.

Figures show strong growth in deposits last year, with an increase of $2.6 mn over the year to nearly $15.1 million at end March 2008. This compares well with the previous year's strong growth of $2.8 million.

On the other side of our balance sheet total lending fell over the year by $0.8 mn to around $9.3 million. This is the result of a reduction in the number of loan applications combined with the impact of a large number of maturing solar water heating loans over the year.

In particular, those maturing SWH loans were not offset by new SWH loans as changes made by EECA to their finance assistance scheme in mid-2007 discouraged new applications. The new option of a direct cash grant appears to have been preferred by consumers.

Liquidity

The net result of these opposite movements in deposits and loans has been a strong increase in Prometheus' liquidity position. We are currently holding much more liquidity than we would normally wish to. This is no bad thing in the current environment where many finance companies have been exposed by a lack of liquidity.


Following this capital injection we now have a capital adequacy ratio of 13.5%, substantially above the implicit requirement of 6.6% set by our Trust Deed. This means that we can double our total deposits over the next few years and still remain compliant with that ratio.

This gives Prometheus a solid foundation for the growth we are aiming for.