Lasco Financial Services has seen its revenue and net profit dip despite an increase in remittance activities.

For the first quarter (Q1) 2022, the company reported revenue of $564 million, a five per cent drop from the $591 million recorded in the corresponding period last year.

This was attributed to a new marketing initiative and smaller margins from foreign exchange transactions.

Commenting on the Lasco Financial Services performance, Managing Director Jacinth Hall-Tracey stated, “Net income decreased 26 per cent from the prior year driven by higher expenses and lower revenues. There were new expenses introduced for the quarter including costs associated with placing Visa cards in market.”

She was, however, optimistic about the prospects of the second quarter, citing “buoyant remittance market” and expectations of increased revenues from its visa card business.

“We continue to see the resilience in our business lines in spite of the challenging market conditions. We navigated the environment very well aided by the mix in our key drivers which allow us to provide a complementary suite of services geared at financial inclusion for our core customer segment. We continue to tweak our strategies to respond to market conditions and expect improvements in income once our full suite of services are rolled out,” she continued.

In her outlook on the company for financial year 2022/23, Hall-Tracey noted: “We are heading into the new financial year with great anticipation that the strategies and plans we have implemented will manifest as intended. We are fully cognisant that as a money service business largely acting as an intermediary, there are several elements in our business for which we have no control. Our success has always been, however, in our response: our ability to adapt and our broad vision of the future of our business and our continued relevance.”