In Brief
CAPTIVES
Volvo Financial Services sees signs
of recovery
Despite a consolidated loss in 2009,
Volvo Financial Services said it saw signs of recovery in the last
months of the year.
The customer finance arm of the Swedish truck maker recorded an
operating loss of SEK680 million (€67.7 million) for the full year,
but an operating profit of SEK15 million in the fourth quarter of
2009. New business volume decreased by 41 percent compared to the
fourth quarter of 2008 as a result of lower deliveries of Volvo
Group products, the company said.
In total, 6,522 new Volvo Group units were financed during the
quarter (compared to 11,966 in the fourth quarter of 2008).
Daimler FS hit by bad debt, expects
better 2010
Daimler Financial Services achieved
EBIT of just better than breakeven in 2009 at €9 million, compared
with an EBIT of €677 in 2008, due to increased expenses related to
higher credit risk.
The captive arm of Germany’s largest vehicle maker said that due to
lower vehicle unit sales, new business fell by 15 percent to €25.1
billion.
The whole Daimler Group recorded an EBIT loss of €1.5 billion.
Sales at the Daimler Trucks division collapsed to 259,300 units
from 472,100 units in 2008, severely impacting on 2009
earnings.
PACCAR Financial Services in Q4
upturn
PACCAR Financial Services has reported an
upsurge in profits during the final quarter of last year due to a
strengthening in margins and provisions for impairments.
During the fourth quarter, on the back of revenues totalling $254.9
million (€184.2 million), PACCAR Financial Services, the captive
finance house for Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF trucks, had a net
income of $46.1 million, an equivalent of 41 percent of net income
for the whole year.
This improvement was due to an increase in finance margins and
improvements in provisions for credit losses, the company said in
its latest financial statement.
ECONOMIC TRENDS
Bulgaria: 16% of lease book goes
bad
Bulgaria saw overdue leasing payments
rise by 14.3 percent in 2009’s final quarter, from €350 million in
the third quarter to €402 million in the fourth quarter.
Year-on-year, fourth-quarter late payments were up an astonishing
314 percent.
This compares to a Q4 new business total of just €122 million, 13
percent higher than the previous quarter but 74 percent down
year-on-year. Currently, Bulgarian lessors have a combined lease
portfolio of €2.5 billion, a total that shrank by 14.6 percent over
the course of 2009.
Lithuanian leasing worsens losses
for Danske Bank
Major problems in Danske Bank’s
Lithuanian leasing business have caused the bank’s national
subsidiary to report a 15-fold increase in pre-tax losses, from
€8.7 million in 2008 to €131.9 million in 2009. Some €135 million
in loan loss provisions were set aside by Danske Bank in Lithuania
in 2009, compared to just €16.5 million in 2008.
Before impairment charges and taxes, Danske made a €2.9 million
profit, itself down from €7.8 million in 2008. Additionally,
banking income contracted by 34.5 percent.
Danske Bank's operations in Lithuania include Danske Bank
as well as Danske Lizingas, the group’s leasing business.
RESULTS
VR Leasing posts slight volume
drop
Germany’s VR Leasing posted a new
business volume of €2.24 billion last year, slightly down from the
€2.32 billion figure achieved in 2008, but outperforming the
overall German market.
The Eschborn-based lessor recorded a loss from ordinary activities
of €18.8 million compared to a profit of €19.2 million in
2008.
The company reported an increase in vehicle financing business,
from €813 million to €877 million.
New business within its international subsidiaries – all based in
the CEE region – fell by 46.1 percent to €1.25 billion.
LeasePlan profits lower
LeasePlan recorded a net profit of €165
million in 2009 (down from €202 million in 2008), but started to
see recovery in the second half of the year.
The Dutch lessor said that the profit drop derived from reduced
prices for end of contract cars, which led to a loss of €97
million, and larger-than-usual impairment for receivables of €56
million.
The company has also completed a change in shareholding, with
investment company Fleet Investments BV taking a 50 percent stake
in the lessor. Volkswagen will continue to maintain the remaining
50 percent.
Grenkeleasing profits
Grenkeleasing had a net profit of €24.6
million in 2009, slightly down from last year’s €33.1 million. The
German IT lessor said that new business volume was 17.3 percent
down in 2009 to €497 million, but expects to grow by 15 percent in
2010.
Its 2010 strategy includes the launching of new businesses – it has
already opened offices in Northern Ireland and Luxembourg, and a
“cell division in the UK with the opening of a new branch in
Belfast”.
The lessor expects to see a “tangible rise in interest income”,
following a recovery in its estimated residual values “despite
declining demand and declining prices”.
FACTORING
French factoring down
3.6%
France’s factoring business declined
3.6 percent in 2009, according to the country’s leasing and
factoring association (ASF). ASF figures revealed a drop to €128.2
billion from €135 billion in 2008, which followed a period of
constant growth.
New factoring business dropped during the first three quarters of
2009 by an average of 6 percent, and achieved a “modest growth”
only in the fourth quarter of the year.
The share of international business increased from 7.3 percent in
2003 to 14.5 percent in 2009.
EBRD gives $25m to UniCredit
Leasing Ukraine
The European Bank for Recon-struction
and Development (EBRD) has announced a $25 million (€18.5 million)
credit line to UniCredit Leasing Ukraine, to
provide leases to small businesses.
The loan is part of a $125 million financing package for the
UniCredit Group in the Eastern European country, approved by the
EBRD board of directors in 2009.
The international financial institution said that the loan to
UniCredit Leasing “acknowledges the importance of leasing as an
alternative form of financing for smaller businesses that do not
have the resources to buy capital intensive equipment straight
away”.