Finance & Leasing Association9 July 2013
New figures released today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show strong performances by many asset finance sectors. Overall, new business involving deals of up to £20 million grew by 4% in May 2013 to almost £1.9 billion. Sectors that performed particularly well included IT equipment finance, up by 79% compared with May 2012.
So far in 2013, new business in this sector has grown by 21%. May was also a good month for the commercial vehicle and business equipment finance sectors, which recorded growth of 7% and 12% respectively compared with May 2012.
Commenting on the statistics, Julian Rose, Head of Asset Finance at the FLA, said: “It’s good to see the industry returning such healthy figures, showing that more and more firms see asset finance as an attractive alternative to other types of business finance.”
| May 2013 | % change on May 2012 | 3 months to May 2013 | % change on prev. year | 12 months to May 2013 | % change on prev. year | |
| Total FLA asset finance (£m) | 1,851 | +2 | 5,669 | +1 | 21,327 | -1 |
| Total leasing and hire purchase excluding high value (£m) | 1,850 | +4 | 5,549 | 0 | 20,689 | +1 |
| Data Extracts: | ||||||
| Plant and machinery finance (£m) | 387 | 0 | 1,142 | -2 | 4,212 | +1 |
| Commercial vehicle finance (£m) | 386 | +7 | 1,241 | +3 | 4,553 | -2 |
| IT equipment finance (£m) | 158 | +79 | 403 | +26 | 1,454 | +16 |
| Business equipment finance (£m) | 161 | +12 | 495 | +7 | 1,822 | -8 |
| Car finance (£m) | 576 | -15 | 1,846 | -6 | 6,668 | +2 |
| Aircraft, ships and rolling stock finance (£m) | 8 | -41 | 61 | +20 | 478 | +40 |
Note to editors:
- The fall in finance provided for new cars bought by businesses is attributable in part to a particularly strong performance by this market in May 2012.
- In 2012 FLA members provided £76.6 billion of new finance to UK businesses and households. £21.5 billion of finance was provided to businesses and the public sector, representing around 29% of all fixed capital investment (excluding real property and own-account software) in the UK last year.
