THE Home Finance Company (HFC) Ltd is to increase its depth and scope of activities to reflect the fast growing mortgage industry in the country.

In this direction, the company has sought the mandate of its shareholders to change its name, the objectives and the stated capital of the company.

This, according to the directors, will reflect the new vision and mission of the company in order to make the company more proactive.

Speaking at the 11th annual general meeting of the company in Accra yesterday, the Managing Director of the company, Mrs Stephanie Baeta Ansah, said the amendments of the object clause of the company’s regulations is to provide it with more diversified and profitable business portfolio.

She said the company will therefore seek to increase its stated capital from ?8.1 billion to ?30 billion through a renounceable right issues.

Reviewing the operational activities of the company, Mrs Baeta Ansah said total assets of HFC grew from ?196 billion to ?247.7 billion at the end of the 2001 financial year.

She said this comprised mortgage portfolio which grew by ?30.6 billion to ?186.5 billion with investments in short term securities increasing from ?17.2billion to ?31.2 billion.

The group’s profit performance over the year was satisfactory according to the managing director, and stated that the company made a total income of ?57.7 billion, an increase of ?19.7 billion.

She said income from loan portfolio increased by ?17.8 billion to ?41 billion on account of improved margins.

The managing director said during the period under review, HFC Investment Services Ltd contributed ?1.2 billion to the group’s year-end pre-tax earnings, and this represented an increase of 38.8 per cent for the year 2000. Shareholders funds stood at ?3 billion. She said HFC Unit Trust achieved a fund value of ?30.6 billion as against ?24.2 billion recorded at the end of the year 2000. The HFC REIT on the other hand, ended the year with a fund value of ?18.6 billion as against ?13.9 billion in the year 2000.

Mrs Baeta Ansah said HFC Investment Services Ltd has made considerable progress on the real estate projects under its management and that provision of serviced plots at the Bougainville Estates, Batsonaa and Accra are near completion.

She said the index linked mortgages which the HFC issued over the years have progressed satisfactorily and that a total of 4,000 mortages have so far gone through.

Out of this amount, she said a total of 1,600 have been fully repaid with 2,400 outstanding.