The UK’s Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) has called for
the British government to extend further support to bank lending in
asset finance, as Q1 results for 2009 have shown a 44 percent
interannual drop in finance for plant and machinery.
“Asset financiers are still writing plenty of business,”
commented Julian Rose, head of asset finance at the FLA, “and more
than £5 billion (€5.7 billion) of asset finance was provided in the
first three months of 2009. But the significant drop in finance for
new plant and machinery investment underscores the challenges
facing the manufacturing sector.”
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Overall, capital investment via asset finance fell 28 percent
year-on-year in Q1, with significant falls seen in copiers,
telecoms and catering equipment (31 percent), commercial vehicles
(25 percent) and IT equipment (33 percent).
On the brighter side, big ticket leasing for ships, aircraft and
trains was up by 7 percent, fuelled by a 71 percent surge in ship
finance business.
Fred Crawley
