The Market Online - At The Bell

Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights

  • Latin-American car selling company LatAm Autos (LAA) has reported record sales growth for the fourth quarter of 2019
  • The saled were heavily boosted by the Motorfy Credit Mexico segment of LatAm
  • This is the company’s fintech sector that lets users buy and sell cars online through either credit or cash
  • The company said if it were a bank, it would be the fifth-biggest originator of used car loans in Mexico
  • LatAm’s shares gained 24 per cent on the market today, closing at 3.1 cents per share

Latin-American classifieds company LatAm Autos (LAA) has reported a record quarter for sales in the final months of 2019.

The company brought in all-time record revenue over the fourth quarter if 2019 for both its Mortorfy Credit Mexico business and all Motorfy products combined in Mexico. Further to this, unit sales for Motorfy Credit for the quarter increased 33 per cent year-on-year.

Motorfy is LatAm’s fintech platform which allows users to buy and sell cars entirely online through either cash or credit.

LatAm Executive Director Jorge Mejia said on top of the increased Motorfy sales, the company was able to decrease its total costs by 10 per cent in November.

“Motory Credit Mexico continues to record strong growth, with unit sales in 2019 up 647 per cent and 34 per cent compared to the full years of 2017 and 2018 respectively,” Jorge told investors in an announcement to the ASX today.

He added that even with this 2019 growth, Motorfy remains a large market with “very little” penetration by banks and other financiers.

The company shared an interesting hypothetical with investors today to help those with an interest in LatAm to understand its position in the Mexican market.

“If LatAm Autos were a bank, it would be the fifth-largest originator of used car loans in Mexico in terms of the number of credits it is responsible for disbursing.”

LatAm Autos, January 2020

In 2019, 60 per cent of LatAm’s Mexican revenues were brought in by the Motorfy fintech business. In 2017, this figure was only 10 per cent.

This growth bodes well for the company who faces some stiff competition in the world of car sales and classifieds. Carsales, a global conglomerate headquartered in Australia, runs SoloAutos, which is currently Latin America’s first choice for classifieds.

Whether LatAm has its sights set on an eventual Carsales buyout or wants to become a competitor for the automobile-selling giant will be found out in time.

In the interim, LatAm’s shares gained 24 per cent on the market today. At market close, shares were trading for 3.1 cents each in an $18.35 million market cap.

LAA by the numbers
More From The Market Online
The Market Online Video

Carly Holdings (ASX:CL8) launches direct-to-dealership subscription service – CarlyNow

Carly Holdings is offering a new way for car dealers to subscribe any of their vehicles…

Carly (ASX:CL8) — Rapidly growing car subscription market gets its wheels

Into a burgeoning subscription-driven world, where instant gratification without long-term commitment is the new normal, comes…