Fitch has also affirmed Autonom’s senior unsecured debt rating at ‘B-‘/RR6.
The revision of the Outlook reflects Autonom’s resilient financial performance since the onset of the pandemic, notably regarding profitability, asset quality and funding and liquidity. Consequently, Fitch expects Autonom’s performance to further recover in 2021 and that the company will maintain sufficient headroom above any downgrade triggers identified in our base case.
Autonom’s Long-Term IDR reflects its company profile as a Romanian car lessor providing operating leasing and to a lesser extent, short-term rentals to domestic SMEs. Autonom’s franchise is small but growing and benefits from an increasing leasing penetration rate in Romania. Fitch has identified Autonom’s modest size, concentrated franchise and monoline business model as factors constraining its rating.
“Autonom’s ratings also consider the company’s adequate profitability, helped in 2020 by limited reliance on short-term rentals, reasonable asset quality and an experienced management team. Autonom’s focus on corporate clients and moderate exposure to business volumes relying on tourism arrivals and airport traffic supported its performance in 2020 and help reduce vulnerability to future lockdowns and lower international travel volumes”, according to company representatives.
Autonom has a moderate franchise by international standards in the growing segment of operating fleet leasing in Romania (total assets of RON641 million at end-2020). The company caters to SMEs, mostly outside Bucharest, which are not served by its international competitors. Autonom also offers short-term rental solutions (under 25% of its fleet at end-2020) to Romanian corporates. Only a minor portion is dependent on tourist arrivals at airports.
Fitch’s assessment of Autonom’s funding profile is constrained by a high share of secured funding (about 80% at end-2020) and mostly encumbered assets (about 75% at end-2020). However, Autonom managed its funding and liquidity profile well during 2020, including by returning into compliance with its debt covenants and harmonising covenants across its lenders. Autonom has built up additional liquidity since the beginning of the pandemic and continued efforts to diversify its funding base, which Fitch views positively.
Autonom is a small, privately-owned car lessor predominately offering operating leasing services to around 1,500 SMEs in Romania. At end-2020, it had around 6,700 vehicles under operating leasing contracts.
Autonom is a family-owned company, founded by brothers Marius and Dan Stefan. A longstanding management team, articulated medium-term strategy and intention to adopt managerial best practices somewhat mitigate key-person risks in relation to its founders and less developed corporate governance, which is in line with other privately-held peers.