All articles by Claire Hack
Claire Hack
Lloyds TSB provides factoring to UK SMEs
KJM, a Leeds-based specialist courier firm, received a £150,000 facility to help it relocate to a larger warehouse as demand for its services increases.
ECS acquisition finalised
IT and telecoms funder Econocom has finalised agreements with French banking giant Socit Gnrale related to the acquisition of IT lessor ECS. Econocom entered into exclusive negotiations in July this year and the two parties have now signed the share purchase agreement Econocom has also signed the final financing agreements with a banking pool headed up by BNP Paribas Fortis and ING
US pay survey results released
Salaries in the US equipment finance sector have hardly changed in 2009, while total compensation was down across functions in the industry, the results of the 2010 Equipment Finance Compensation Survey have shown. Released by American leasing body the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), the results also showed that more than half of sales positions included in the survey saw a decrease in total remuneration in 2009 compared to the year before.
New head of ABFA appointed
HSBC has appointed a joint head of its invoice finance and equipment finance businesses. Steve Box, managing director of HSBC Invoice Finance, will now take responsibility for both units in a structural shift aimed at streamlining the business Richard Carter remains in his position as head of equipment finance in the UK
ABFA releases Q2 stats
Figures released by the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA) show members lending to businesses grew 2% in Q2 compared to the same period last year. Total advances from ABFA members stood at £14.6bn (17.7bn) in the second quarter of 2010, showing their clients are more confident about drawing on funds available to them, the Association said.
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UK SMEs turn to asset based lending
More and more SMEs in Britain are turning to invoice and asset based lending as they lose faith in traditional sources of funding, research has shown. In a survey of 250 UK accountants, 80% said their clients no longer trusted traditional financing and 53% said invoice and asset based lending was most effective for small business growth. The results also showed 60% of accountants surveyed believe there will be worse to come for SMEs in terms of insolvencies as economic recovery remains uncertain.
CSI expands in Asia
International independent IT lessor CSI Leasing has expanded its Asian presence with the acquisition of two Fortis Lease businesses in Malaysia and Singapore Fortis Lease Malaysia and Fortis Lease Singapore will become CSI Leasing (Singapore) and CSI Leasing Malaysia
Euro banks post first-half profits
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the part-nationalised parent company of Lombard, posted operating profit of £1.58bn (1.93bn), compared to a loss of £3.35bn in the first half of 2009.
Dell and HP fight for cloud computing company
Dell and Hewlett Packard (HP) were locked in a fierce bidding war for the virtualised data storage systems vendor 3PAR as Leasing Life went to press. Both Dell and HP have financing arms which would potentially benefit from a move into the growing data storage sector
Bibby Line Group grows organically
Bibby Line Group recorded an increase in turnover of 5.3% in the year to 31 December 2009 Sales at the parent company of Bibby Financial Services and Bibby Leasing were £1.089bn (1.3bn), up from £1.034bn in the year to 31 December 2008. Operating profit decreased by 40.8% to £28m in 2009, down from £47.3m in 2008