New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that asset finance new business (primarily leasing and hire purchase) for deals of up to £20 million grew by 4% in January, compared with the same month last year. Including high-value deals, new business increased by 3% over the same period.
The plant and machinery finance and business equipment finance sectors each reported new business up in January by 8% compared with the same month in 2017, while new finance for commercial vehicles fell by 4% over the same period.
Commenting on the figures, Geraldine Kilkelly, Head of Research and Chief Economist at the FLA, said “The asset finance market made a positive start to 2018 with further solid growth in new finance for plant and machinery and business equipment. In particular, new business for agricultural equipment in January was 21% higher than in the same month in 2017. We expect asset finance new business growth in 2018 as a whole to be at a similar rate to 2017.”
| Jan 2018 | % change on prev. year | 3 months to Jan
2018 |
% change on prev. year | 12 months to Jan
2018 |
% change on prev. year | |
| Total FLA asset finance (£m) | 2,337 | +3 | 7,523 | +3 | 31,842 | +5 |
| Total excluding high value (£m) | 2,131 | +4 | 6,926 | +2 | 30,038 | +6 |
| Data Extracts:
By asset: |
||||||
| Plant and machinery finance (£m) | 509 | +8 | 1,520 | +4 | 6,654 | +11 |
| Commercial vehicle finance (£m) | 480 | -4 | 1,748 | -4 | 7,462 | 0 |
| IT equipment finance (£m) | 133 | +29 | 663 | +14 | 2,315 | +3 |
| Business equipment finance (£m) | 191 | +8 | 633 | +5 | 2,596 | +7 |
| Car finance (£m) | 608 | -2 | 1,928 | -2 | 9,493 | +4 |
| Aircraft, ships and rolling stock finance (£m) | 28 | -14 | 71 | -36 | 545 | +24 |
|
By channel: |
||||||
| Direct finance (£m) | 1,066 | 0 | 3,326 | -3 | 15,047 | +3 |
| Broker-introduced finance (£m) | 442 | +8 | 1,444 | +12 | 5,690 | +11 |
| Sales finance (£m) | 622 | +10 | 2,155 | +3 | 9,301 | +7 |
|
By product: |
||||||
| Finance leasing (£m) | 246 | 0 | 939 | -1 | 3,809 | +6 |
| Operating leasing (£m) | 425 | -2 | 1,519 | -3 | 6,744 | +1 |
| Lease/Hire purchase (£m) | 1,166 | 0 | 3,763 | 0 | 16,907 | +6 |
| Other finance (£m) | 359 | +10 | 826 | +7 | 3,313 | -3 |
