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Broker World EARLY BIRD Offer
This month’s Broker World magazine covers the inconsistent UK markets experienced in April, with feedback supplied from the UK’s asset finance and leasing broker community.
As promised in earlier editions, Broker World is introducing its subscription plan with a special Early Bird Offer. The monthly subscription price will be held at £3.50 (zero VAT, UK mail destinations only) taken off your credit card each month automatically, and may be cancelled at any time without further costs. Payment is ONLINE, so it’s easy.
To take advantage of this special offer CLICK HERE, select the Broker World magazine Subscription option, and off you go!
NB The normal monthly subscription from June 1st will be £5.00 per month, but Early Birds will stay on £3.50
FLA reports Hot sectors
The latest figures from the Finance & Leasing Association has identified a number of asset finance sectors as “Hot” for example investment in plant and machinery grew in Q1 2012 by 26 percent compared with Q1 2011. The figures reinforce the findings of a recent report by the manufacturing organisation EEF, “Financing for Assets.” Eighty-six percent of its members who used external finance had invested in equipment through asset finance in the last three years. A similar percentage of manufacturers expected to use it in the next three years.
The overall measures show positive but not outstanding growth, rolling year on year growth was 1 percent, March on March growth 3 percent, and Q1 2012 on Q1 2011 growth reached 8 percent, but there were some very high growth numbers hidden in the various sectors. So for example, March on March IT equipment showed 29 percent growth, Q1 2012 on
read more...Spring drinks and all that jazz?
The FLA’s AGM was held at the Burdett Theatre at the King’s Fund in central London recently, and was followed by the customary Spring Drinks reception. Compared with 2010, the FLA in 2011 received more revenues from members’ subscriptions and trading income, spent more on admin, paid more tax and ended with a higher profit, of £186,127. This profit stays within the association and goes straight to the FLA’s capital reserves, which together with the original starting capital contributed by founder members, totals £1,595,725. Membership as at the financial year end comprised 114 full members, and 89 associate members.
After the Company’s Act requirements were satisfied, the participants adjourned to the Spring Drinks reception, to join with others who flowed in after a day’s work in the office to check out the news and views of senior leasing colleagues. The director-general’s speech is always a highlight of an FLA Drinks Reception, second only to the jazz band, cocktails, nibbles, and the welcoming smile of Linda Charles. And Stephen Sklaroff had some great lines, starting with, “For the first time in living memory, the Government has not only included asset finance in various of its schemes designed to boost business investment, but has positively drawn attention to the fact!” Geraldine Kilkelly, the FLA’s Chief Economist, came in for warm praise as . .
read more...New FLA Chairman announced
Motor finance veteran of 33 years, Philip Ross, General Manager of Honda Finance Europe, has been elected Chairman of the Finance & Leasing Association (“FLA”) with effect from 10 May. He takes over the chair from Chris Sutton, Managing Director of Black Horse Finance.
Philip Ross said, “I am looking forward to continuing Chris Sutton’s excellent work as Chairman. I have been a strong supporter of the FLA for many years, and Chairman of its Motor Finance Division for the last two. I know the vital importance of the FLA’s work on behalf of all its members.“The major changes we currently face in the regulation of consumer and small business credit will affect all our markets – consumer, business and motor finance. The FLA gives us the strong voice we need with regulators, officials and Ministers to ensure that the new regulatory framework, and Government policy generally, supports the enormous contribution our members make to the UK’s economy and society.”
The board composition at the FLA is currently . .
read more...PCFG stay selective
Private and Commercial Finance Group (“PCFG”), the AIM quoted finance house, has announced a trading update prior to its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2012 due to be released on 26 June 2012. The results are expected, subject to audit, to be in line with expectations, and £15 million of new funding facilities were secured in the financial year. PCFG successfully completed a sale of receivables at a premium to book value, proceeds from which were used to repay senior debt, reduce equity gearing, and further strengthen the balance sheet. The Group says its portfolio of receivables is well spread over 14,800 customers, and continues to perform well, maintaining an improving trend throughout the year.
PCFG’s Chief Executive, Scott Maybury said, “It is extremely pleasing to be attracting new funding facilities and these can now be utilised to grow the portfolio. In the second half of the year, we have seen increased competition amongst finance companies as challenging economic conditions has lead to fewer consumers purchasing vehicles and SMEs postponing investment decisions. We will, however, remain selective in our underwriting . .
read more...Angel Trains beefs up systems
Angel Trains has announced new finance, project management, and procurement applications to improve its asset management capabilities and the way it works with customers. The new technologies, part of Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1 will allow it to make quicker decisions on modifications and leases, while still taking a holistic lifetime view of the trains being managed. Angel Trains already had in place a bespoke IT system to enable it to manage and monitor the condition of entire fleet of over 4,000 vehicles across the UK.
However, with a number of industry changes ahead, Angel Trains is improving its own Fleet Management System by implementing and integrating Oracle’s E-Business suite applications for finance, project management and procurement. This, it believes, will enable the company to manage and plan costs more effectively, improve its ability to manage and monitor stock, enable greater collaboration with customers and suppliers, and provide quicker solutions and answers around leasing and investment costs to customers and TOCs (Train Operating Companies).
read more...Good news: more networking events
Looking at the mixed bag of post-Easter UK leasing news, the most striking thing is what a busy events calendar is shaping up for May and June. We get an early start on April 25th with the KPMG Leasing & Asset Finance Forum starting at 3.30pm at their Salisbury Square London address (Emily.Bryan@KPMG.co.uk). Most interestingly, it addresses a subject that has gone ominously quiet, the new lease accounting, and examines in which direction UK GAAP is heading.
May 1st, as everyone (now) knows, is the Leasing World editor’s birthday, and though there have been wild guesses at which one (ranging from 19 to 75) the editor says he doesn’t feel a day over seventy. May 10th is the day of the FLA Spring Drinks Reception at The Kings Fund in London, and is usually a jolly do as many lessors attend the AGM earlier in the day and are desperate for a drink by 6.30pm . .
read more...Big online auction success
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers succesfully conducted its first multi-million pound sterling auction at Donington Park, UK on Tuesday April 17, 2012. The unreserved public plant equipment auction, which took place next to the Donington Park racing circuit, attracted hundreds of people throughout the day. In total, the Company registered more than 630 online and on-site bidders from 50 countries to bid on more than 675 heavy plant equipment items and trucks featured in the unreserved auction—each item was sold to the highest bidder, without minimum bids or reserve prices.
“Our first auction in Donington Park was an exciting event,” said Guylain Turgeon . .
read more...AnaCap fund oversubscribed
AnaCap Financial Partners (“AnaCap”) has reached a final closing on its AnaCap Credit Opportunities Fund II L.P. (“the Fund”), successfully hitting its £350 million hard cap. The Fund was oversubscribed after just six months despite a current average private equity fundraising period of more than 20 months. The Fund expects to build upon AnaCap’s track record as a financial services specialist, targeting performing, semi-performing or non-performing consumer and SME debt across Europe, including loans, leases, securities or other obligations requiring granular analysis and active asset management. It will seek to capitalise on the need for financial institutions to de-leverage after years of over-expansion . .
read more...Lease accounting continues to confound
What is the future of lease accounting, now that disagreements on the path forward have surfaced between the IASB and FASB, a new exposure draft faces more delays, and its workplan no longer shows an end date? The boards have focused on the lessee side of the equation, and first looked at three alternative approaches, then wondered if lessees will have the information required to apply them. This kind of fumbling does not fill practitioners with optimism about any new re-exposed statement, despite surveys showing users as hopeful of a better exposure draft than the last one. KPMG’s latest IFRS - Leases Newsletter for download gives the full gen . .
read more...Cassiopae covers Islamic Finance
Global asset finance software leader, Cassiopae, has announced that its V4 software now supports Islamic Finance, a key requirement for finance companies doing business in Islamic countries. Cassiopae MEA Managing Director, Jemil Ben Romdhane, spoke on the topic of Islamic Finance at the recent “Forum Africain de la Finance Islamique” on April 19th in Tunis, North Africa. The range of Islamic Finance products and services is growing. Islamic Finance has expanded from the Muslim world to international financial markets with rising crude oil prices and petrodollar holdings. A number of Islamic retail banks and banking units have also opened recently throughout the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions.
read more...Econocom confident of targets
Econocom, the ICT infrastructure management group, reported a good first quarter with revenue of €357 million, up on the €350 million recorded in Q1 2011. Organic growth stood at 2 percent up on last year, which is all the more encouraging in light of the fact that the group continued to relinquish its non-strategic activities during the first quarter, as previously announced.
Growth for the group in the 1st quarter came from two regions - Northern & Eastern Europe and Southern Europe, whilst business remained stable on the whole in France and Benelux. The acquisition in this quarter of a 40 percent stake in Belgian company Centix, which specialises in server and desktop virtualisation solutions, has already resulted in several contracts being signed.
read more...LeasePlan places £582.1 million
LeasePlan Corporation N.V. has successfully placed £582.1 million of securities backed by the lease assets of its portfolio in the UK. LeasePlan placed the notes in two classes both rated AAA(sf) by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, a €445.8 million class A1 and a £212.1 million class A2. There was a high level of oversubscription in the euro tranche, and books included the highest quality institutional investors.
The transaction, labeled Bumper 5 (UK), has been priced at 1-month Euribor + 120 basis points for the class A1 euro notes and 1-month Libor + 140 basis points for the class A2 sterling notes. The class A notes have a weighted average life of two years. In addition, £46.1 million class B notes rated AA+(sf) with a spread of 1-month libor + 185 basis points were retained by the company. The transaction is the first transaction to tap sterling investor demand.
read more...Citigroup in Aeroflot leasing
Moscow - Citigroup has announced it closed financing for a financial leasing agreement signed between VEB-leasing, one of the top three financial lessors in Russia, and Aeroflot, Russia's largest airline company, to finance three A321-200 aircraft. Citi acted as a Sole Mandated Lead Arranger & Advisor, Joint Lender and Facility Agent. The arrangement is expected to facilitate Aeroflot's plans for fleet renewal and expansion of its domestic and international routes. The total list price for the three Airbus aircraft is $310.8 million.
The 10-year financing was guaranteed by three European Export Credit Agencies (“ECAs”): Euler Hermes (Germany), Coface (France) and ECGD (UK). This transaction is VEB-leasing’s first ECA-backed financing. In its advisory capacity, Citi assisted VEB-leasing throughout the ECA process and helped them obtain optimal ECA rating. The support of the Export Credit Agencies allowed VEB-leasing to close the deal on favourable conditions and offer competitive financing terms to Aeroflot. Royal Bank of Scotland (“RBS”) acted as a Joint Lender for the delivery of the first two aircraft, delivered in February-March 2012. VEB-leasing provided 15 percent downpayment financing. The third delivery will take place in August 2012.
read more...Leaseurope in its prime
2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of Leaseurope, the association of Europe’s national leasing and rental associations. One might say that Leaseurope under director-general Tanguy van de Werve is in its prime now, just take a look at its latest magazine, Leaseurope Inside 16 (DOWNLOAD) detailing current projects and achievements, and speculate at how short that list might have looked 40 years ago?
It’s an important milestone for the organisation and their team, and will be highlighted throughout the year with a 40th anniversary logo, and special recognition activities. The anniversary celebration will culminate at the Annual Convention to be held on 11 & 12 October 2012 in Cannes, France, with all past chairs being invited in acknowledgment of their contribution to the leasing and automotive rental industry over the years.
read more...
Q. New ED will be
Vendor & Captives
DLL teams with Kyocera Solar 7th May 2012
Birmingham becomes smarter 23rd March 2012
Grappling with Cloud 20th March 2012
Kubota Australia goes with WCG 10th February 2012
Nissan Forklift GB extends 5th February 2012
Evaluating your programme 4th February 2012
International & General
GE Capital upstreaming 17th May 2012
Ritchie Bros. acquire AssetNation 9th May 2012
CIT pays down more debt 8th May 2012
NetSol in strong 3rd quarter 7th May 2012
AIG sues ILFC ex-CEO 25th April 2012
U.S. volumes and confidence Up 24th April 2012
ICBC MoU with Embraer 22nd April 2012
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Our Special Global Edition is a hard copy magazine, which is mailed monthly to our subscribers. The typical edition features ten pages of UK leasing news, plus shorter European and International leasing news stories. Special columns include Straight from the Brokers, Captives Corner, City Chatter, Round the Blogs, and Moves. There is always a Special Feature section that examines a particular area of leasing, plus surveys, corporate profiles, and a monthly Lease Training section.
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