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  • It’s been a turbulent month of trade for fintech lister Plenti (PLT)
  • In recent weeks, the non-bank lender endured a mediocre initial public offering (IPO) and rumours it had been favoured for government contracts
  • As a result, Plenti shares took a hit over late September, but have started to crawl back following a promising quarterly update
  • Following its latest ASX announcement, Plenti CEO Daniel Foggo spoke to The Market Herald Deal Room about how he intends to right the ship
  • Today, stock closed 2.36 per cent in the red, worth $1.24

It’s been a turbulent month of trade for fintech lister Plenti (PLT). In recent weeks, the non-bank lender endured a mediocre initial public offering (IPO) and rumours it had been favoured for government contracts.

Since then, the financial stock has struggled to turn things around and get its share price back to its IPO high. But not all is lost for the fintech, which tabled record quarterly results and debunked allegations of state government favouritism since its late September listing.

Following its latest ASX update, Plenti CEO Daniel Foggo spoke to The Market Herald Deal Room about how he intends to right the ship.

What does Plenti do?

Plenti is a tech-centric, non-bank lender which focusses on consumer loans.

The loan originator, formerly known as RateSetter, offers personal, vehicle and clean energy-centric ‘green’ loans to Aussie consumers. Interestingly, it can often sweeten the deal if an applicant presents with a great credit score — something which sets it apart from traditional lenders.

And while it admits it’s working in a highly saturated market, Plenti believes key differences in its verticals can help it bring something new to the table.

“We’re lending into three different verticals; personal loans, automotive loans and renewable energy loans, they’re large verticals and we think we’re really well placed to continue our growth in those verticals,” the Plenti CEO explained.

The IPO

Listing can be a complicated process for any company, but in Plenti’s case, teething problems were amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under its IPO, Plenti raised $55 million at $1.66 a pop, implying a $280 million market capitalisation. After this, the company floated under the ASX code ‘PLT’ on September 23.

However, over the course of its debut day, Plenti stock shed 23 per cent to hit the $1.30 mark. Since then, shares have fallen as low as $1.15 before inching back to a $1.27 October high. Today, Plenti share closed worth $1.24.

Plenti’s share price since listing
Source: ASX

Despite the recent share price slump, Plenti Chief Executive Daniel Foggo has no qualms about the company’s listing journey.

“It was a great experience actually! An IPO has been on our radar as a business since we launched. It was fantastic to bring it to fruition,” he stated.

“It’s obviously an interesting year… to IPO off the back of COVID, so we went through a process with investors to make sure that there was appetite for our business” the CEO continued.

Independent review

Surfacing in tandem with Plenti’s float were accusations the stock had been favoured for $100 million in state government contracts.

At the time, industry competitors alleged covenants awarded by Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) — which positioned Plenti to work with the NSW and SA governments on rooftop and solar battery financing — were bestowed outside a tender process.

Since then, however, an independent federal government review has cleared Plenti (then known as RateSetter) and the CEFC of any wrongdoing.

“All CEFC project and investment decisions in relation to RateSetter are compliant with its legislative obligations and investment mandate,” a letter to Plenti from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources surmised.

“No evidence was found that the CEFC facilitated improper preferential treatment for RateSetter,” it continued.

Loan originations on the rise

Despite the hurdles tied to its listing and contract wins, Plenti has managed to bring some good news to the market.

The fintech released a quarterly update on October 2, in which it highlighted some of its recent achievements ahead of its September periodical.

Positively, Plenti tabled $106.9 million in loan originations for the September quarter — a record result for the financials stock.

“Delivering three consecutive months of record loan originations and exceeding our prospectus forecast is an outstanding result for Plenti. With this momentum, our focus remains on the development of market-leading and innovative products and building scale in each of our large lending markets,” CEO Daniel Foggo stated.

Even more significant is news that figure is up 48 per cent on the previous corresponding period (PCP) and 11 per cent higher than Plenti’s prospectus forecast.

Overall, the company’s total loan portfolio also spiked to $434 million — $8 more than originally predicted.

Commenting on the results, the Plenti Chief Executive told The Market Herald’s Sonia Madigan the financials were strong.

“It was really pleasing to provide a market update showing actually we’re up 78 per cent on our prior quarter, which admittedly was impacted by COVID-19, but importantly our best quarter by about 29 per cent,” he explained.

“If we keep performing like that then the share price will take care of itself, we’ll have more up days than down days,” Daniel continued.

What’s ahead?

Looking to the future, the Plenti CEO says there’s a lot more in store.

“There are some really interesting government programs — we’re actually helping administer a subsidy program in South Australia, we’re running a pilot for the government in NSW,” Daniel stated.

“State governments are really getting behind solar and home battery investment and they’re the sorts of things that are really going to accelerate the growth of the market,” he continued.

“The important thing for us is making sure each area we’re in we’re able to scale up … our business is all about being in those large markets, leveraging technology as a platform business … as you scale up the economics become quite attractive,” the CEO concluded.

Those following the Plenti story will have to wait and see whether the latest financials and existing contracts can drive shares into the green.

Today, stock closed 2.36 per cent in the red, worth $1.24.

  • It’s been a turbulent month of trade for fintech lister Plenti (PLT)
  • In recent weeks, the non-bank lender endured a mediocre initial public offering (IPO) and rumours it had been favoured for government contracts
  • As a result, Plenti shares took a hit over late September, but have started to crawl back following a promising quarterly update
  • Following its latest ASX announcement, Plenti CEO Daniel Foggo spoke to The Market Herald Deal Room about how he intends to right the ship
  • Today, the stock closed 2.36 per cent in the red, worth $1.24

It’s been a turbulent month of trade for fintech lister Plenti (PLT). In recent weeks, the non-bank lender endured a mediocre initial public offering (IPO) and rumours it had been favoured for government contracts.

Since then, the financial stock has struggled to turn things around and get its share price back to its IPO high. But not all is lost for the fintech, which tabled record quarterly results and debunked allegations of state government favouritism since its late September listing.

Following its latest ASX update, Plenti CEO Daniel Foggo spoke to The Market Herald Deal Room about how he intends to right the ship.

What does Plenti do?

Plenti is a tech-centric, non-bank lender which focusses on consumer loans.

The loan originator, formerly known as RateSetter, offers personal, vehicle and clean energy-centric ‘green’ loans to Aussie consumers. Interestingly, it can often sweeten the deal if an applicant presents with a great credit score — something which sets it apart from traditional lenders.

And while it admits it’s working in a highly saturated market, Plenti believes key differences in its verticals can help it bring something new to the table.

“We’re lending into three different verticals; personal loans, automotive loans and renewable energy loans, they’re large verticals and we think we’re really well placed to continue our growth in those verticals,” the Plenti CEO explained.

The IPO

Listing can be a complicated process for any company, but in Plenti’s case, teething problems were amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under its IPO, Plenti raised $55 million at $1.66 a pop, implying a $280 million market capitalisation. After this, the company floated under the ASX code ‘PLT’ on September 23.

However, over the course of its debut day, Plenti stock shed 23 per cent to hit the $1.30 mark. Since then, shares have fallen as low as $1.15 before inching back to a $1.27 October high. Today, Plenti share closed worth $1.24.

Plenti’s share price since listing
Source: ASX

Despite the recent share price slump, Plenti Chief Executive Daniel Foggo has no qualms about the company’s listing journey.

“It was a great experience actually! An IPO has been on our radar as a business since we launched. It was fantastic to bring it to fruition,” he stated.

“It’s obviously an interesting year… to IPO off the back of COVID, so we went through a process with investors to make sure that there was an appetite for our business” the CEO continued.

Independent review

Surfacing in tandem with Plenti’s float were accusations the stock had been favoured for $100 million in state government contracts.

At the time, industry competitors alleged covenants awarded by Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) — which positioned Plenti to work with the NSW and SA governments on rooftop and solar battery financing — were bestowed outside a tender process.

Since then, however, an independent federal government review has cleared Plenti (then known as RateSetter) and the CEFC of any wrongdoing.

“All CEFC project and investment decisions in relation to RateSetter are compliant with its legislative obligations and investment mandate,” a letter to Plenti from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources surmised.

“No evidence was found that the CEFC facilitated improper preferential treatment for RateSetter,” it continued.

Loan originations on the rise

Despite the hurdles tied to its listing and contract wins, Plenti has managed to bring some good news to the market.

The fintech released a quarterly update on October 2, in which it highlighted some of its recent achievements ahead of its September periodical.

Positively, Plenti tabled $106.9 million in loan originations for the September quarter — a record result for the financial stock.

“Delivering three consecutive months of record loan originations and exceeding our prospectus forecast is an outstanding result for Plenti. With this momentum, our focus remains on the development of market-leading and innovative products and building scale in each of our large lending markets,” CEO Daniel Foggo stated.

Even more significant is news that figure is up 48 per cent on the previous corresponding period (PCP) and 11 per cent higher than Plenti’s prospectus forecast.

Overall, the company’s total loan portfolio also spiked to $434 million — $8 more than originally predicted.

Commenting on the results, the Plenti Chief Executive told The Market Herald’s Sonia Madigan the financials were strong.

“It was really pleasing to provide a market update showing actually we’re up 78 per cent on our prior quarter, which admittedly was impacted by COVID-19, but importantly our best quarter by about 29 per cent,” he explained.

“If we keep performing like that then the share price will take care of itself, we’ll have more up days than down days,” Daniel continued.

What’s ahead?

Looking to the future, the Plenti CEO says there’s a lot more in store.

“There are some really interesting government programs — we’re actually helping administer a subsidy program in South Australia, we’re running a pilot for the government in NSW,” Daniel stated.

“State governments are really getting behind solar and home battery investment and they’re the sorts of things that are really going to accelerate the growth of the market,” he continued.

“The important thing for us is making sure each area we’re in we’re able to scale up … our business is all about being in those large markets, leveraging technology as a platform business … as you scale up the economics become quite attractive,” the CEO concluded.

Those following the Plenti story will have to wait and see whether the latest financials and existing contracts can drive shares into the green.

Today, the stock closed 2.36 per cent in the red, worth $1.24.

PLT by the numbers
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