IFS Capital

IFS Capital: Today's feature in The Edge. IFS has been in the factoring business since the 1980s, and is no stranger to companies in need of loans and advances for their short term working capital needs. Business for IFS, which operates in SE Asia, has mostly been steady. In four of the past five years, earnings ranged from $6.5m - $7.9m, with gross operating income up steadily from $34.6m in 2009 to $43m in 2012. The only blip was in 2013,when it reported a net loss of $4.8m owing to higher allowances for loan losses and impairment of certain assets. Even so, IFS has said that prospects for recovering these provisions are high. IFS biggest shareholder , Lim Hua Min, executive chairmna of Phillip Capital, has been actively buying IFS shares in the open market since Jun. His last purchase was on 8 Sep, when he paid ~$0.435 per share, lifting his stake to ~40.7%. IFS trades at just 0.5x P/B.