All articles by Fred Crawley
Fred Crawley
September write-offs dash profit hopes for 1pm
Broker-fed SME lessor 1pm plc has reported an unusually high number of lease terminations during September, resulting in bad debt write-offs of £95,000 (105,000) for the month. In a statement, 1pm explained that most of the agreements affected had been long-term, larger value deals predating the companys decision to reduce average deal size earlier this year.
Leasedirect places £1.3 million deal
Asset finance broker Leasedirect Finance has recently completed a deal for a carton and packaging manufacture company based in Cambridgeshire, brokering more than £1.3 million (1.4 million) worth of equipment finance Leasedirect, which employs over 100 people, has reported an increase in large deals placed recently only last month, the introducer placed a £0.9 million deal for a veterinary hospital in the West Midlands.
Ryder supplies 187 vehicles for Hovis Armada
Commercial vehicle contract hire provider Ryder has signed a major deal with food production giant Premier Foods, for the supply of vehicles worth a total of 9.5 million. The 187 vehicle deal includes a number of 15 tonne box bodied trucks for dry freight haulage, as well as 38 tonne and 28 tonne tractor units from DAF and Mercedes, to join the Hovis bread fleet
Former Weatherbys MD starts new business for Close
Richard Briscoe, formerly of Arkle Finance, has joined the Close Asset Finance group, where he will head a new unit, Close Business Finance.
Russian IT integrator CROC strenghtens finance partnerships
Russian IT infrastructure development firm CROC has launched a new financing programme in partnership with the Russian divisions of De Lage Landen, SG Equipment Finance and Raiffeisen Leasing International, as well as vendors such as EMC, Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu. As well as offering hardware leasing and credit for software licences, CROC will provide project finance solutions under the new programme, as well as asset management offerings such as the option for clients to trade in obsolete equipment. CROC has worked with IT finance companies since 1997, and includes among its clients large corporates such as Perm Motor Plant, Essen Production AG, Integra Management, Aeroflot Russian Airlines, and IRKUT Corporation.
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Eurohold poised for Romanian acquisition
Bulgarian manufacturing and financial services group Eurohold is poised to absorb an unnamed Romanian lessor and a number of car dealerships, it was revealed at an investors meeting on October 14th Board member Borislav Feschiev said the target company was on the edge of bankruptcy, but could provide an excellent portfolio to add to existing Romanian property Eurolease Auto Romania
Peek to leave CIT after overseeing Q4 restructuring progress
It is understood that the companys board is currently forming a search committee to oversee the transition to new leadership. CITs recently launched restructuring plan is designed to enhance its capital levels, bolster liquidity and return the Company to profitability,” commented Peek
Polish lease volume down by a third year-on-year
During the first nine months of this year, Polish leasing companies financed 3.2 billion of investments, a decrease of more than a third from last years figure of 5.1 billion. As in the years first half, vehicle finance especially connected to the road freight sector has seen the worst of Polands leasing durntown, with truck finance down 43 percent year-on-year as of the end of September.
Bawag: Austrian leasing to drop 24% by year end
The leasing subsidiary of Austrian banking network Bawag PSK has predicted that Austrias total leasing revenue for 2009 will be 24 percent down year-on-year, with an annual total of 5.2 billion expected for the industry At a press conference, Bawag PSK Leasing managing directors, Alexander Schmidecker and Rudolf Fric, went on to anticipate 1.3 percent growth for Austrian lessors in 2010, and more pronounced growth in 2011
New lender enters the UK leasing market
Ruffler Bank, recently acquired by private equity firm AnaCap, has merged with Base Commercial Mortgages and relaunched as Aldermore a new commercial lender with immediate growth plans.