Kredinor delivers a huge result for 2020, and then there will be solid bonuses for the employees.
The online newspaper wrote about the 2018 figures to Kredinor that it was a record year. Then the debt collection company gave 116,000 kroner in bonuses to its employees. There was an increase from 88,000 kroner in 2017, while the employees last year had to settle for just over 36,000 kroner.
Performance bonus is paid to all employees in Kredinor SA in accordance with the proportion of man-years throughout the year. The basis for the bonus is 25 per cent of the operating profit if this result amounts to more than 5 per cent of the income.
The accounts for 2020 are now available, and the figures were very good. The Kredinor Group managed to increase revenues from NOK 922.7 million in 2019 to NOK 977.1 million. Operating profit for the period improved from 234.1 million to 277.5 million. This gives an operating margin of a sky-high 28.4 percent.
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Far over
Last year, the parent company Kredinor SA had operating revenues of NOK 714.8 million and an operating profit of NOK 129.6 million. This gives an operating margin of 18.1 per cent for the debt collection business. The figures for 2020 thus show margins far above the minimum requirement for bonuses.
And then there will be a bonus. Kredinor CEO Tor Berntsen states in an SMS to Nettavisen that the bonus last year amounted to 25 percent of the operating profit in the parent company Kredinor SA. And 25 per cent of NOK 129.6 million amounts to almost NOK 33 million. Divided into 404 man-years, this corresponds to a bonus of NOK 80,000 per head.
Berntsen was also paid NOK 36,000 in bonuses for 2020, according to a note in the annual report. Then it is asked whether the employees have to settle for lower bonuses in the future.
Last autumn, the Storting approved sharp cuts in debt collection fees. For small claims, up to NOK 500, the fees are cut by 50 percent. Justice policy spokesman Peter Frølich in the Conservative Party feared in December a wave of bankruptcies and a tsunami of debt collection cases.
The cuts were followed up by the Storting in December, when they decided to cut the fees further for debt collection cases that end up in the Conciliation Board. In total, it amounts to up to NOK 50 million in fees a year, often to people who have a very strained economy.
Read also: Debt collection tops full alarm about debt in Norway: – We are at the boiling point
Loses 180 million
The reorganization made Kredinor CEO Tor Berntsen stumble and claimed that Kredinor would annually lose NOK 180 million in revenue on the fee cuts. Kredinor therefore wanted to close down the customer service office in Trondheim and the branch office in Hamar last autumn, according to E24.
Berntsen defended the high fees and just over two years ago rejected that the company refrains from collecting small amounts.
However, in 2018, the police pointed to Kredinor as one of the two the worst companies in enforcing small claims. Insignificant debt collection amounts could grow to several thousand kroner, which caused the bailiffs to drown in these claims.
Renegotiations
According to the annual report for 2020, Kredinor will have reduced revenues. But Berntsen has said that Kredinor has renegotiated agreements with clients. The renegotiations can result in an annual income increase of NOK 50 million.
The corona pandemic otherwise affected 2020, and this led to a significant decrease in the number of debt collection cases for Kredinor. In addition, debtors paid off old debts to a greater extent. For the time being, Kredinor sees no signs of increased default in Norway.
Regarding the outlook for this year, Kredinor writes in the annual report that the company will continue to buy default portfolios. The portfolio purchases are within banking and finance, but Kredinor also buys claims from existing customers who have defaulted on energy and telecom bills.
No one is upheld
In 2020, Kredinor was appealed to the Financial Appeals Board in 122 cases. According to the annual report, 60 of the cases were rejected, 35 were substantiated, while only two of the complainants were upheld. The creditor waived the fee in twelve of the cases.
The company has at all times as much as 1-1.3 million debt collection cases for collection. Kredinor is Norway’s largest debt collection company measured in number of cases, second largest in turnover after Lindorff.
Kredinor is a member-owned cooperative that has roots dating back to 1905. The group consists of a number of companies and has operations in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The employees at the closed Hamar office have otherwise been transferred to Oslo, while customer service has been centralized at the head office in Oslo.
Kredinor offers payment follow-up for the industries energy, banking / finance, parking, telecom, public sector and trade and industry in general.
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