Financial Services (SFS) has ceased new business activities,
Leasing Life can reveal.
of SFS Commercial Finance division in Europe and Asia-Pacific, made
the decision last month to “cease all new business activities
except for some major vendor relationships”, a company spokesperson
said.
The company, which specialises in IT,
healthcare and telecoms equipment in the SME sector, said the
decision forms part of a strategic review undertaken by SFS
worldwide.
In a statement to Leasing
Life, the company said the move “aims to lever its current
competitive advantage and its solid financial position to focus its
resources on supporting Siemens and other customers’ requirements
in other parts of its organisation.”
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The company declined to comment on
whether the business was profit-making or whether SFS as a whole
planned to end any activities elsewhere.
According to a well-placed source, the
recent decision could be linked to SFS not reaching its return on
equity (ROE) targets.
Because it is backed by the Siemens
conglomerate, ROE is the most important target for SFS, the source
said.
As a whole, the company’s set target
is 20-23 percent. According to SFS figures, in the last quarter it
reached 23.4 percent, which was still above target, but much lower
than 2007’s 35.6 percent record.
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By GlobalDataIf large amounts of investment were
needed by the Italian arm to reach ROE targets then it might have
been cheaper for Siemens simply to cease business activities, the
source said.
At the beginning of 2008, SFS sold its
two Hungarian businesses, Siemens Leasing Kft and Siemens Finance
Zrt, to Dutch lessor De Lage Landen.
The company said it made the decision
because the Hungarian businesses did not fit with the firm’s new
investment strategy.
