New deal should help Microlease achieve annual turnover
target of £30 million. Fred
Crawley reports
Test equipment lessor Microlease has
expanded on a partnership with global technology firm Agilent,
building on an already advanced vendor agreement to launch a unique
type of sales aid structure.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Under the new scheme, UK-based Microlease has,
since 1 November, become Agilent’s sole ‘authorised technology
partner’ in the UK and Ireland, taking on seven sales staff and one
sales manager from Agilent as part of the deal. This has boosted
Microlease’s 40-strong global sales force significantly, and
increased the company’s UK focus. CEO Nigel Brown estimated that it
will bring the proportion of turnover denominated in sterling to
around 50 percent, from a previous figure of 35 percent.
While the new sales force will promote
Microlease services to Agilent’s clientele, they will not simply be
pushing a lease product.
As well as providing a battery of
short-to-long term rental offerings, Microlease is a significant
dealer in used and new test equipment, and can offer outright
purchase.
Unusually therefore for a company with “lease”
in its name, Microlease is “agnostic” towards the lease/outright
purchase debate, and is keen, said Brown, to offer the right
product for a customer regardless of purchase type.
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By GlobalDataHe pointed out that since the company has a
major line of business in maintaining, valuing and selling used
test equipment (which tends to hold value well and have a
multi-decade lifespan in any case), it is in a good position in
terms of both residual value risk and the risk from potential
client insolvencies.
The agreement, he added, will also further
Microlease’s three-year strategy of organic growth. He expects the
firm to achieve £30 million (€33.3 million) in turnover this
financial year, but that this figure could be boosted to £45
million in 2010-2011 thanks to the Agilent agreement.
Agilent has formerly had financing agreements
with CIT, GE and Siemens Financial Services, but will now use
Microlease’s services exclusively in the UK after having used the
company as a regular funder since early 2007.
According to Brown, discussions are underway
to possibly extend the partnership into Europe, but not into the US
market.
• Agilent was created in 1999 as an $8
billion (€5.3 billion) startup, an offshoot of technology giant
Hewlett-Packard that encompassed the company’s measurement
business.
Today the California-based firm
employs 18,000 people across the globe, and claims a 40 percent
share of the worldwide test equipment market.
Active in 110 countries, its European
offices are in Leuven, Belgium, and South Queensferry,
Scotland.
Fourth-quarter global revenues of $1.17
billion were down 21 percent year-on-year, but up 10 percent from
the third quarter. Chief executive Bill Sullivan called it “a
relatively strong finish to an extraordinarily difficult
year”.
