Personal lender Harmoney (ASX:HMY) has listed on the ASX today but its shares fell upon its debut.

Harmoney began in Auckland and originated its first loan in August 2014.

Since then it originated over NZ$1.8 billion in personal loans – representing compound annual growth of 86 per cent – and serves 47,000 customers.

It is the third fintech lender to list on the ASX in the last 12 months following MoneyMe (ASX:MME) last December and Plenti Group (ASX:PLT) this September.

While the MoneyMe rallied on its debut, Plenti dropped 20 per cent. Harmoney, which raised $92.5 million at $3.50 per share, followed the latter course.

Shares slightly fell at market open to $3.30 – a fall of 6 per cent.

Harmoney (ASX:HMY) share price chart

 

‘An important milestone’

Harmoney is eyeing off growth in the Australian market from the IPO proceeds.

Australia’s personal lending market is $150 billion and non-bank lenders’ share of personal lending has grown from under 10 per cent in 2015 to nearly 50 per cent.

The deal was lauded as a big step for Harmoney by the company and joint lead manager Ord Minnett.

“Today marks an important milestone for Harmoney, a young company that is proud to have made the transition to public markets where it can continue its growth trajectory,” chairman David Flacks said.

“The focus is now on delivering growth to create sustainable value for all shareholders.”

Ord Minnett’s Gavin Carroll said Harmoney’s ASX IPO “strongly positions the company to extend its successful record of growth in online consumer lending, including continuing to leverage its highly scalable proprietary technology platform”.

Today’s listing was accompanied with a company update where Harmoney revealed a solid start to the financial year.

In the four months to October 2020, the company delivered total income of NZ$27 million and a cash net profit after tax of NZ$1.6 million.

Its loan book however was 1 per cent lower then estimated due to currency fluctuations.

Harmoney also told shareholders it is currently documenting its second warehouse funding facility and will make its first drawdown before year’s end.