All articles by Fred Crawley
Fred Crawley
Ryder builds fleet with DBC Foodservice
Commercial Vehicle contract hire giant Ryder has delivered 35 new dual compartment trucks, between 15 and 18 tonnes in weight, to frozen food wholesale provider DBC Foodservice. The company has more than 10,000 customers, including Caffe Nero, the Ministry of Defence, Prezzo, Loch Fyne, Little Chef, and Gourmet Burger Kitchen, and an annual turnover exceeding £270 million.
Close appoints MH manager
Close Asset Finance (CAF) has launched a dedicated materials handling division, hiring Jeremy Spooner as national sales manager for the new team. Spooner, who has 15 years of experience in materials handling finance, will be based at CAFs offices in Chester, but will spend much of his time travelling around the UK. Commenting on his divisions approach to the market, he commented that CAFs flat management structure and lack of bureaucracy had allowed it to react quickly to the opportunity presented by the materials handling market.
Bibby victorious at CRS tournament
Bibby Financial Services has emerged as a formidable force in 5-a-side football, beating GE Commercial Finance 2-1 in the final of recruitment company CRS first annual tournament. The tournament was held in aid of charity Sport Relief, and brought together 16 teams from the UKs biggest players in leasing and factoring, including Barclays Asset & Sales Finance, Lombard, Yorkshire Bank and Santander Asset Finance
Leasing crash at Hypo continues to haunt BayernLB
Austrian CEE banking network Hypo Group Alpe Adria has posted an after-tax loss of 1.58 billion for 2009, confirming the banks prediction of an annual loss of significantly more than 1 billion back in November of last year. The losses, getting on for triple 2008s figure of 519.7 billion, were largely down to a threefold increase in loan loss provisions, which soared to 1.67 billion after big problems in Hypos Croatian, Bulgarian and Ukrainian leasing businesses.
Share and share alike
As news breaks that Austrian Raiffeisen Zentralbank sterreich is to merge with CEE network Raiffeisen International including its huge leasing arm the time seems ripe to ask what position Europes co-operative banks have left their leasing subsidiaries in, after a recession that has challenged even the most conservative of lending models. The largest lessor owned by a co-operative bank is De Lage Landen, the international vendor finance giant owned by Dutch Rabobank Group, which comprises 152 independent local banks and their central bank, Rabobank Nederland.
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Davenham AF still profitable despite group’s troubles
As listed commercial finance provider Davenham Group struggles to sell off its property finance portfolio, its asset finance segment which continues to write limited business has reported an interim profit of £179,000 for the six months ending 31 December 2009.
Brimming with confidence
As Aldermore Bank approaches the final quarter of its first full year in business, deputy CEO Mark Stephens wants to see the near future put it firmly on the map of British banking, with asset finance taking a central role in future developments.
Close Asset Finance subsidiaries help hold up parent bank
As he prepares to move on from the leadership of Close Asset Finance after 11 years, CEO Mike Barley has left his parent bank a formidable parting gift, by way of his divisions contribution to a better-than-expected interim result. Merchant bank Close Brothers Group (CBG) reported a pre-tax profit of £62.3m (69m) for the six months leading to 31 January 2010, 50% greater than last years interim profit figure of £41.5m.
Soc Gen subsidiary launches services arm
David Whelan due to take over as head of back-office operations at ECS UK, reports Fred Crawley. Technology lessor ECS UK has taken up provision of maintenance and other services to customers, in a move that brings its strategy further in line with the business of its European parent. ECS Group, which turns over nearly 2bn annually across its 17 countries of operation, employs around 600 of its 1,600 staff to provide maintenance and other services for lessees.
Lloyds plans to expand presence in leasing and HP
When looking at the structure of Lloyds Banking Group, it is difficult to see quite how well the banks leasing and asset finance activities are faring amidst the confusion of the HBOS legacy. All of LBGs leasing and asset finance business is found within the groups wholesale arm, where it is split between the Asset Finance and Corporate Markets Divisions. Asset Finance comprises the groups contract hire, motor and consumer finance businesses, including half-merged fleet businesses Lex and Autolease, Hill Hire, Black Horse and Personal Finance.