Propel Reports Second Quarter Results and Announces Dividend Increase

TORONTO, Aug. 5, 2026 /CNW/ -- Propel Holdings Inc. ("Propel" or the "Company") (TSX: PRL), the fintech facilitating access to credit for underserved consumers, today reported financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2026 ("Q2 2026"). Propel also announced that its Board of Directors has approved a further increase to its dividend from C$0.96 to C$1.02 per share on an annualized basis, effective Q3 2026. This represents an increase of 6% and the Company's twelfth consecutive quarterly dividend increase. All amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated.

Financial and Operational Highlights for Q2 2026 (Shown in U.S. Dollars unless otherwise stated)

Comparable metrics relative to Q2 2025, unless otherwise stated

• Revenue: increased by 26% to $179.6 million, representing a record

• Adjusted EBITDA¹: increased by 24% to $43.7 million, representing a record

• Net Income: increased by 7% to $16.2 million

• Adjusted Net Income¹: increased by 29% to $24.8 million, representing a record

• Diluted EPS²: increased by 7% to $0.38 (C$0.53)

• Adjusted Diluted EPS^1,2: increased by 28% to $0.58 (C$0.81), representing a record

• Return on Equity³: achieved 23% on an annualized basis

• Adjusted Return on Equity¹: achieved 35% on an annualized basis

• Loans and Advances Receivable: increased by 21% to $492.3 million, a record ending balance

• Ending Combined Loan and Advance Balances ("CLAB")¹: increased by 23% to $639.1 million, a record ending balance

• Dividend: paid a Q2 2026 dividend of C$0.24 per common share on June 3, 2026, representing a 7% increase to our Q1 2026 dividend

Management Commentary

"We built on the strong momentum from the first quarter and delivered another record quarter, including record revenue, Ending CLAB^1, Adjusted EBITDA¹ and Adjusted Net Income¹, and generated an Adjusted Return on Equity¹ of 35%.

Our performance reflects disciplined execution and demonstrates that the strategic investments we have made over the past several quarters are delivering measurable results. As we expanded into new states, launched new products and broadened our distribution channels, we reached more consumers than ever before. Supported by strong consumer demand, new customer originations increased by 43% year-over-year across our platform, including Lending-as-a-Service.

Importantly, we delivered this growth while maintaining stable credit performance, reflecting the strength of our AI-powered underwriting platform and the resilience of the consumers we serve.

We continue to see strong momentum across the business and remain well positioned to advance our mission of expanding access to credit for underserved consumers while delivering profitable growth in 2026 and beyond," said Clive Kinross, Chief Executive Officer.

Discussion of Financial Results and Business Strategy

• Strategic investments and strong demand drove record Total Originations Funded¹ and Ending CLAB¹
  • Propel and its Bank Partners delivered record quarterly Total Originations Funded¹, supported by strong demand from new, returning and existing customers
    • Total Originations Funded¹ increased by 25% year-over-year to a quarterly record of $243.4 million, driving Ending CLAB¹ to a record of $639.1 million, up 23% from Q2 2025
    • New customer Total Originations Funded¹ grew by 34% year-over-year and by 43% when including Lending-as-a-Service, reflecting continued success in expanding the Company's customer base
  • Annualized Revenue Yield¹ increased to 117% in Q2 2026 from 114% in Q2 2025, primarily reflecting the growth in new customer originations, the continued scaling of Lending-as-a-Service ("LaaS"), and relatively higher growth from our higher yielding segments
  • The combination of higher Average CLAB¹ and an improved Annualized Revenue Yield¹ contributed to record quarterly revenue of $179.6 million, an increase of 26% compared to Q2 2025

• Disciplined underwriting and a resilient consumer supported another quarter of stable credit performance
  • Provision for loan losses and other liabilities was 50% of revenue and Net Charge-Offs as a percentage of Average CLAB¹ was 12%, both consistent with the prior year and reflecting disciplined underwriting, a healthy credit environment and continued portfolio performance while achieving record Total Originations Funded¹
  • Propel and its Bank Partners continue to successfully balance strong growth with prudent risk management

• Net income and record Adjusted Net Income¹ reflect disciplined execution
  • Net income increased by 7% to $16.2 million, while Adjusted Net Income¹ increased by 29% to a record $24.8 million in Q2 2026
  • Strong profitability was supported by record revenue, stable credit performance and disciplined execution across the business. The Company also continued to invest in strategic initiatives that are expected to expand its platform and support continued long-term profitable growth

• Strategic investments continued to strengthen Propel's platform
  • LaaS delivered record revenue of $11.1 million in Q2 2026, an increase of 150% year-over-year
    • LaaS revenue growth was supported by expansion into new states, new products and broader distribution channels, with committed long-term capital partners providing the funding capacity to support continued growth
    • As the program continues to scale, LaaS is becoming an increasingly meaningful contributor to Propel's revenue and profitability while expanding the Company's capital-light business segment, enabling Propel to grow originations, generate recurring fee-based revenue and serve more consumers across its platform
  • Propel UK delivered record revenue of $17.3 million, an increase of 53% year-over-year, reflecting disciplined underwriting, expanded marketing channels and strong consumer demand
  • Propel Bank continued expanding its operational capabilities, supporting lending and servicing activities in the U.S.  while enhancing long-term strategic flexibility

• Strong financial position supports continued growth, increasing dividends and disciplined capital management
  • The Company maintained a strong financial position at quarter end, with approximately $97 million of undrawn credit commitment capacity and a Debt-to-Equity³ ratio of 1.2x
    • Even with the strong growth year-to-date, the Debt-to-Equity³ ratio improved from 1.3x at the end of Q4 2025, while outstanding borrowings remained largely unchanged at approximately $332 million, reflecting disciplined capital management and strong earnings generation
  • Through a combination of enhanced credit facility pricing and terms along with lower interest rates, the Company's cost of debt decreased to 10.2% in Q2 2026 from 11.4% in Q2 2025
  • The Company's strong financial position and continued earnings generation supported a 6% increase in the quarterly dividend to C$0.255 per common share beginning in Q3 2026, representing the twelfth consecutive quarterly dividend increase

Notes:
(1)	See "Non-IFRS Financial Measures and Industry Metrics" and "Reconciliation of Non-IFRS Financial Measures" below. See also "Key Components of Results of Operations" in the accompanying Q2 2026 MD&A for further details concerning the non-IFRS financial measures and industry metrics used in this press release including definitions and reconciliations to the relevant reported IFRS measure.
(2)	Results converted from USD to CAD assuming an exchange rate of USD/CAD $1.3843 for the three-month period ending June 30, 2026.
(3)	See "Supplemental Financial Measures" in the accompanying Q2 2026 MD&A for further details concerning certain financial metrics used in this press release including definitions.

Dividend Increase

Propel also announced today that its Board of Directors has approved an increase in the quarterly dividend from C$0.24 to C$0.255 per common share, or from C$0.96 to C$1.02 per common share on an annualized basis. This represents an increase of 6% and the Company's twelfth consecutive quarterly dividend increase. The Board declared a dividend of C$0.255 per common share, payable on September 3, 2026 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 14, 2026. The Company has designated this dividend as an eligible dividend within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

Conference Call Details

The Company will be hosting a conference call and webcast tomorrow morning with a presentation by Clive Kinross, Chief Executive Officer, and Sheldon Saidakovsky, Chief Financial Officer.

Conference call details are as follows:

Date:	Thursday, August 6, 2026
Time:	8:30 a.m. EDT
Toll-free North America:	1-888-699-1199
Local Toronto:	1-416-945-7677
Rapid Connect:	Click here
Webcast:	Click here
Replay:	1-289-819-1450 or 1-888-660-6345 (PIN: 04348#)

About Propel

Propel Holdings (TSX: PRL) the fintech building a new world of financial opportunity for consumers, partners, and investors. Propel's operating brands -- Fora Credit, CreditFresh, MoneyKey and QuidMarket -- together with Propel Bank facilitate access to credit for consumers underserved by traditional financial institutions. Through its AI-powered platform, Propel evaluates customers in a more comprehensive way than traditional credit scores can. The result is better products and an expanded credit market for consumers while creating sustainable, profitable growth for Propel. The revolutionary fintech platform has already helped consumers access over 2 million loans and lines of credit and over 3 billion dollars in credit. At Propel, we are here to change the way customers, partners and investors succeed together.  Learn more at propelholdings.com

Non-IFRS Financial Measures and Industry Metrics

This press release makes reference to certain non-IFRS financial measures and industry metrics. These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding of our results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of our financial information reported under IFRS. Such measures include "Adjusted Diluted EPS", "Adjusted EBITDA", "Adjusted EBITDA Margin", "Adjusted Net Income", "Adjusted Net Income Margin", "Adjusted Return on Equity", "Average CLAB", "EBITDA", "EBITDA Margin", "Ending CLAB", "Net Charge-Offs as a percentage of Average CLAB" and "Total Originations Funded". This press release also includes references to industry metrics such as "Annualized Revenue Yield", "Return on Equity" and "Total Originations Funded" which are supplementary measures under applicable securities laws.

These non-IFRS financial measures and industry metrics are used to provide investors with supplemental measures of our operating performance and thus highlight trends in our core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. We believe that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS financial measures and industry metrics in the evaluation of issuers. The Company's management also uses non-IFRS financial measures and industry metrics in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, to prepare annual operating budgets and forecasts, and to determine components of management and executive compensation. The key performance indicators used by the Company may be calculated in a manner different than similar key performance indicators used by other similar companies.

Definitions and reconciliations of non-IFRS financial measures to the relevant reported measures can be found in our accompanying MD&A available on SEDAR+. Such reconciliations can also be found in this press release under the heading "Reconciliation of Non-IFRS Financial Measures" below.

Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements made in this press release may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. These statements may relate to our declared dividend payable on September 3, 2026,  our ability to advance our mission of expanding access to credit for underserved consumers while delivering profitable growth in 2026 and beyond, the continued scaling of LaaS, our ability to balance strong growth with prudent risk management and the growth of LaaS becoming an increasingly meaningful contributor to our revenue and profitability. Often but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "estimate", "plan", "could", "should", "would", "outlook", "forecast", "anticipate", "foresee", "continue" or the negative of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology.

Many factors could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements or future events or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's annual information form dated March 2, 2026 for the year ended December 31, 2025 (the "AIF"). A copy of the AIF and the Company's other publicly filed documents can be accessed under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

The Company cautions that the list of risk factors and uncertainties described in the AIF is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect its results. Readers are urged to consider the risks, uncertainties and assumptions carefully in evaluating the forward-looking information and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. The forward-looking information contained in this press release represents our expectations as of the date of this press release (or as the date they are otherwise stated to be made), and are subject to change after such date. However, we disclaim any intention or obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws.

Source: Propel Holdings Inc.

Selected Financial Information

	Three months ended June 30,		Six months ended June 30,
	2026	2025	2026	2025
(US$ other than percentages)
Revenue	179,604,747	142,952,714	345,677,291	281,890,281
Provision for loan losses and other liabilities	89,991,448	71,188,088	164,756,931	129,866,714
Operating expenses
Acquisition and data	26,088,080	18,597,770	50,354,207	34,723,693
Salaries, wages and benefits	14,424,301	11,948,950	28,582,968	23,727,583
General and administrative	3,603,497	3,623,866	7,426,698	6,833,030
Processing, technology and program servicing	12,709,176	8,289,373	22,211,511	15,500,986
Total operating expenses	56,825,054	42,459,959	108,575,384	80,785,292
Operating income	32,788,245	29,304,667	72,344,976	71,238,275
Other (income) expenses
Interest and fees on credit facilities	8,350,090	8,153,863	17,098,693	16,802,517
Interest expense on lease liabilities	288,793	173,812	544,845	239,473
Depreciation and amortization	2,700,098	2,191,431	5,281,785	4,176,680
Foreign exchange (gain) loss	(18,260)	(222,206)	(147,450)	302,202
Unrealized (gain) loss on derivative financial instruments	403,879	(600,128)	620,793	(1,086,526)
Total other (income) expenses	11,724,600	9,696,772	23,398,666	20,434,346
Income before income tax	21,063,645	19,607,895	48,946,310	50,803,929
Income tax expense (recovery)
Current	8,573,040	6,549,421	16,830,809	14,040,075
Deferred	(3,666,956)	(2,017,505)	(4,755,947)	(1,812,656)
Net income for the period	16,157,561	15,075,979	36,871,448	38,576,510
Earnings per share ($USD):
Basic	0.41	0.39	0.94	0.99
Diluted	0.38	0.36	0.87	0.91
Earnings per share ($CAD)^(1):
Basic	0.57	0.54	1.29	1.40
Diluted	0.53	0.49	1.20	1.29
Return on equity^(2^)	23 %	25 %	27 %	33 %
Dividends:
Dividends	6,837,144	5,100,068	13,325,355	9,542,166
Dividend per share	0.174	0.131	0.339	0.245

Notes:
(1)	Results converted from USD to CAD assuming an exchange rate of USD/CAD $1.3843 and USD/CAD $1.3781 for the three-month and six-month periods ending June 30, 2026, respectively, and assuming an exchange rate of USD/CAD $1.3841 and USD/CAD $1.4094 for the three-month and six-month periods ending June 30, 2025, respectively.
(2)	See "Supplemental Financial Measures" in the accompanying Q2 2026 MD&A for further details concerning certain financial metrics used in this press release including definitions.

Reconciliation of Non-IFRS Financial Measures

The following table provides a reconciliation of Propel's net income to EBITDA¹ and Adjusted EBITDA^1,2:

	Three months ended June 30,		Six months ended June 30,
	2026	2025	2026	2025
(US$ other than percentages)
Net Income	16,157,561	15,075,979	36,871,448	38,576,510
Interest and fees on credit facilities	8,350,090	8,153,863	17,098,693	16,802,517
Interest expense on lease liabilities	288,793	173,812	544,845	239,473
Depreciation and amortization	2,700,098	2,191,431	5,281,785	4,176,680
Income Tax Expense (Recovery)	4,906,084	4,531,916	12,074,862	12,227,419
EBITDA^(1)	32,402,626	30,127,001	71,871,633	72,022,599
EBITDA Margin^(1)	18 %	21 %	21 %	26 %
Unrealized loss (gain) on derivative financial instruments	403,879	(600,128)	620,793	(1,086,526)
Provision for credit losses on current status accounts^(2)	2,906,369	2,371,117	4,073,044	2,851,366
Non-cash change in accounting estimate^(2)	--	1,357,245	--	1,357,245
Provisions for CSO Guarantee liabilities and Bank Service Program liabilities	7,942,121	1,980,892	9,135,523	1,308,289
Adjusted EBITDA^(1)	43,654,995	35,236,127	85,700,993	76,452,973
Adjusted EBITDA Margin^(1)	24 %	25 %	25 %	27 %

Notes:
(1)	See "Non-IFRS Financial Measures and Industry Metrics".
(2)	Provision and change in accounting estimate adjustments included for (i) loan losses on good standing current principal (Stage 1 -- Performing) balances (see "Material Accounting Policies and Estimates -- Loans and advances receivable" in the accompanying Q2 2026 MD&A).

The following table provides a reconciliation of Propel's Net Income to Adjusted Net Income¹, Adjusted Return on Equity¹ and Adjusted Net Income margin¹:

	Three months ended June 30,		Six months ended June 30,
	2026	2025	2026	2025
(US$ other than percentages)
Net Income	16,157,561	15,075,979	36,871,448	38,576,510
Unrealized loss (gain) on derivative financial instruments, net of taxes^(2^)	296,851	(441,094)	456,283	(798,597)
Amortization of acquired intangible assets, net of taxes^(2^)	360,787	360,787	721,574	721,574
Provision for credit losses on current status accounts, net of taxes^(2)(3)	2,136,181	1,742,771	2,993,687	2,095,754
Non-cash change in accounting estimate, net of taxes^(2)(3)	--	997,575	--	997,575
Provisions for CSO Guarantee liabilities and Bank Service Program liabilities, net of taxes^(2)	5,837,459	1,455,956	6,714,609	961,593
Adjusted Net Income^(1)	24,788,839	19,191,974	47,757,601	42,554,409
Multiplied by number of periods in year	x4	x4	x2	x2
Divided by average shareholders' equity for the period	279,338,527	241,536,350	273,513,491	231,525,154
Adjusted Return on Equity^(^1)	35 %	32 %	35 %	37 %
Adjusted Net Income Margin^(1)	14 %	13 %	14 %	15 %

Notes:
(1)	See "Non-IFRS Financial Measures and Industry Metrics".
(2)	Each item is adjusted for after-tax impact, at an effective tax rate of 26.5% for the three and six-months ended June 30, 2026 and comparative 2025 periods.
(3)	Provision and change in accounting estimate adjustments included for (i) loan losses on good standing current principal (Stage 1 -- Performing) balances (see "Material Accounting Policies and Estimates -- Loans and advances receivable" in the accompanying Q2 2026 MD&A).

The following table provides a reconciliation of Propel's Ending CLAB¹ to loans and advances receivable:

	As at June 30,		As at Dec 31
(US$ other than percentages)	2026	2025	2025
Ending Combined Loan and Advance balances^1	639,083,326	520,403,519	589,548,106
Less: Loan and Advance balances owned by third party lenders pursuant to CSO program	(8,162)	(5,766,753)	(3,087,349)
Less: Loan and Advance balances owned by a NBFI pursuant to theMoneyKey Bank Service program	(114,746,875)	(64,299,669)	(78,702,887)
Loan and Advance owned by the Company	524,328,289	450,337,097	507,757,870
Less: Allowance for Credit Losses	(143,548,303)	(120,635,817)	(137,659,188)
Add: Fees and interest receivable	80,499,365	59,413,526	67,677,786
Add: Acquisition transaction costs	31,038,893	18,219,811	21,987,814
Loans and advances receivable	492,318,244	407,334,617	459,764,282

Note:
(1)	See "Non-IFRS Financial Measures and Industry Metrics".

SOURCE Propel Holdings Inc.

For further information, please contact: Lindsay Finneran-Gingras, Vice President, Communications, [email protected]; Devon Ghelani, Vice President, Capital Markets and Investor Relations, [email protected]