The car finance company said the drop in profit was caused by a reassessment of credit risk with an increased allowance for that to continue to deteriorate in 2021 to the tune of $4.5million.
The company said Covid-19 had caused the global uncertainty behind the increase to risk around credit.
The 2020 financial year had been tracking ahead of expectations before the pandemic took hold, it said.
Despite the severe drop in sales during Alert Level 4, a strong
recovery had followed the lockdown, the company said.
Total sales had dropped only 5.2% from 2019.
Underlying profit after tax had fallen 5.6% to $7.5million.
Total amounts paid to shareholder originators that provided finance, including commission, fees and payment waiver, decreased marginally to $65million.
"This was a key achievement for 2020, as the company fought hard to protect originators earnings, understanding their reliance on MTF Finance to provide cash flow," the company said in a statement.
It credited its support staff and credit originators for helping customers come back from the economic fallout of the pandemic.
"These teams worked many long hours to be able to support over 5000 customers in distress, reducing this number to 300 by September 30, 2020."
MTF Finance would continue to support its creditors and customers to recover and grow in the next five years, it said.
It said most growth was expected in digital transformation of customer servicing and support.
