Independent expects
recovery in Europe to drive growth. Claire Hack
writes.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Germany’s GRENKE Group has
reported strong growth for the first nine months of 2010, and
unveiled its aspirations to enter markets in Turkey and
Greece.
The micro-ticket lessor’s
volumes rose 42.3% to €492m in the first three quarters of 2010,
compared to €345.8m in the same period in 2009. The company expects
30% new business growth for the full year, including franchise
partners.
GRENKE has expanded rapidly
into Europe this year opening new UK branches in Belfast and
Bristol, and offices in Verona, Italy, and Porto,
Portugal.
In a process known as cell
division, once the company receives a certain number of enquiries
at a single office, it will open a new branch to handle the new
demand.
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By GlobalDataHead of corporate
communications Renate Hauss said: “When there is enough potential,
then we split in two.
“This is how we grow. It is
easier to help dealers do business and help with solving problems
if we are close by.”
The company entered
Luxembourg for the first time in 2010, and started a factoring
business in Switzerland. It is now sizing up Greece and Turkey for
expansion.
“Turkey is a fast-growing
economy and we’re not there at the moment,” Hauss said.
“For Greece, we are still
looking at due diligence, the decision has not been made yet. We
think there is potential there when the country’s problems are
resolved.”
Plans for future expansion
have been bolstered by the company’s solid performance in the first
three quarters of the year.
Its international business –
any not in Germany – performed well, contributing 58.5% to the
group’s new business.
Growth was supported by a
continued rise in the number of enquiries and the weakening of
competitive intensity.
The “extremely good”
development continued into the third quarter despite traditional
fluctuations over the summer, although growth rates are expected to
slow down in the fourth quarter.
In a statement to its
investors, the company said: “Our growth is built upon our high
equity ratio and extremely strong financing base.
“In the first half of 2010,
we successfully positioned ourselves on the capital markets with
different types of placements, meaning that we were not required to
use the market for refinancing in the third quarter of
2010.”
By end of September 2010, the
group had recorded a total of 142,670 leasing enquiries and the
average value per contract was €7,610, a 6% increase on the
previous year’s average of €7,172.
Overall, the number of
enquiries rose 32% year-on-year while growth for the international
segment was 48.7%.
The conversion rate was 43%.
