ELFF: Confidence Slowly Returning to Equipment Finance Sector Monday, January 25, 2010 The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation released its Monthly Confidence Index for January, showing the industry’s own outlook on the sector remains essentially flat. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 58.7, virtually the same as the December 2009 index of 58.8.
When asked to assess if their current business conditions would remain the same over the next four months, 42.5 % of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, up from 31.1% in December. Only 2.5% believe conditions will get worse, and the majority, 55% believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months. “I feel mildly positive about the industry. Pent up demand in several equipment categories would trigger more capex financing in 2010,” said Harry Kaplun, president of Texas-based Frost Bank and a survey participant. 75% of survey respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (Cap Ex) will “remain the same” over the next four months while 20% indicated there will be an increased demand for leases or loans to fund Cap Ex. 32.5% of respondents believe their company will increase spending on business development activities during the next six months, while 65% believe there will be “no change” in business development spending. 67.5% of the survey respondents indicate they expect the “same” access to capital to fund business while 32.5% of executives expect more access to capital to fund equipment acquisitions over the next four months. When asked, 22.5% of the executives reported they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, up from 15.6% in December, and 57.5% expect no change in headcount over the next four months. 100% of the leadership evaluates the current U.S. economy as “poor” or “fair.” In December, 51.1% rated the economy as “fair” and in January 2010, 45% rated the economy as “fair.”
ELFF says confidence is slowly returning to Equipment Finance Sector
January 26, 2010 by Pamela Hewett
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