ZF English

VB Leasing doubles financing to 100m euros

21.12.2005, 19:18 11

VB Leasing, part of the Austrian Volksbanken financial group, in the first 11 months of 2005 secured contracts worth more than 100 million euros, double the figure from the same period last year.

"The growth of the car market and the rapidity and simplicity with which we are able to sign contracts with customers allowed us to register an increase of over 100% in financing," stated Octav Dumitrescu, VB Leasing marketing manager.

The company forecasts for this year suggest that it will log over 7,000 contracts worth more than 120 million euros.

Within the company''s portfolio, the highest weight in sales is held by car financing, standing at 90%, while equipment leasing accounts for 10%. VB Leasing also finances used cars from favoured partners or from authorised importers and dealers from Romania.

"The leasing market has seen considerable growth this year. This is primarily due to the growth of the Romanian car market, which continues to be the growth engine behind leasing activities," says Dumitrescu.

The leasing market was last year put at about 1.4-1.5 billion euros (the volume of financed goods), or 1.8-1.9 billion euros (the value of leasing contracts, including, beside the pre-tax price of the financed goods, other expenditures linked to financing, excluding VAT).

This year, the leasing market is likely to exceed 2 billion euros in terms of the value of financed goods, in line with estimates by the representatives of the Association of Leasing Companies in Romania and of the Banking Leasing Association.

In 2006, VB Leasing believes that the leasing market will continue to grow by about 15%. Most companies on the market will start paying particular attention to used car leasing in the following period, the VB Leasing manager maintains.

This year, imports of used cars are likely to exceed 75,000-80,000 units or 450 million euros. Market players believe that sales of used cars are likely to boom in the coming years.

"A possible wave of imports of used cars might erode the sale of new cars. Leasing companies that do not rapidly adapt to the new conditions and don''t finance used cars will be hurt. In such cases, leasing companies should try to find new categories of goods that they can finance," considers Dumitrescu.

VB Leasing was set up in the autumn of 2000, with its shareholders being VB leasing International with 80% of stock, and Volksbank Romania with a 20% stake.

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