The UK asset finance market grew by 9% in the
second quarter of 2012.
The latest figures from the Finance &
Leasing Association (FLA) show new business volume for the three
months to the end of June of £5.3bn (€6.6bn) compared to £4.9bn in
2011.
The most significant increase was in IT
equipment finance which grew 48% year-on-year to £366m.
Car, plant and machinery, and commercial
vehicle finance, all recorded steady growth of between 8 and 13%
compared with the previous year.
Business equipment finance and aircraft, ships
and rolling stock finance suffered the most with year-on-year
decreases of 7% and 75%, respectively.
The FLA said more than 50,000 businesses
invested in new equipment using leasing over the three-month period
with more agreements were made through commercial finance brokers
and equipment suppliers, with both channels up by 14% in the
quarter.
The new business volume for June was £1.84bn
which represents a 2% year-on-year increase and 3% increase on the
£1.79bn recorded in May.
Julian Rose, head of Asset Finance at the FLA,
said: “Awareness of the benefits of asset finance is growing among
small and medium-sized businesses, and many businesses are finding
the finance they need through one of the over 500 commercial
finance brokers across the country, who are listed in our new
on-line small business finance directory.”
Rose added the UK government rightly included
asset finance in its programme of measures to ease the flow of
credit to small businesses but called on some schemes, such as
Funding for Lending, to be expanded to
include a wider range of asset finance companies would help even
more businesses to invest.
Source: Finance & Leasing Association
