Asset finance market grows in May

New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that asset finance new business (primarily leasing and hire purchase) grew by 10% in May, compared with the same month in 2017.

New finance for plant and machinery grew in May by 4% compared with the same month in 2017, while the commercial vehicle finance sector reported new business up by 13% over the same period.

Geraldine Kilkelly, Head of Research and Chief Economist, said “The asset finance market continued to improve in May after a relatively quiet first quarter. The industry provided further support to the construction, manufacturing and agricultural sectors, with new finance for equipment in these sectors up by 6%, 11% and 22% respectively, compared with May 2017.”

	May 2018	% change on prev. year	3 months to May 2018	% change on prev. year	12 months to May 2018	% change on prev. year
Total FLA asset finance (£m)	2,921	+10	8,984	+3	31,926	+3
Total excluding high value (£m)	2,637	+4	8,421	+3	30,127	+4
Data Extracts:   By asset:
Plant and machinery finance (£m)	586	+4	1,813	+1	6,651	+7
Commercial vehicle finance (£m)	684	+13	2,182	+6	7,561	+1
IT equipment finance (£m)	174	+1	506	-8	2,336	+5
Business equipment finance (£m)	201	-13	666	+5	2,588	+4
Car finance (£m)	870	+6	2,802	+0	9,445	+2
Aircraft, ships and rolling stock finance (£m)	15	-85	63	-81	204	-72
By channel:
Direct finance (£m)	1,334	+5	4,245	+3	15,038	+1
Broker-introduced finance (£m)	526	+2	1,630	+6	5,831	+7
Sales finance (£m)	777	+5	2,546	+1	9,257	+6
By product:
Finance leasing (£m)	312	+3	1,038	+4	3,886	+6
Operating leasing (£m)	472	-14	1,663	-16	6,335	-7
Lease/Hire purchase (£m)	1,667	+13	5,113	+9	17,273	+5
Other finance (£m)	302	+9	802	-9	3,142	-9