Equipment Leasing Index Shows Business Volume Down 6%

March 25, 2013
Overall new business volume for February was $4.7 billion, down 6 percent from $5 billion in February 2012, according to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s (ELFA) Monthly Leasing and Finance Index (MLFI-25), which reports economic activity from 25 companies representing a cross section of the $725 billion equipment finance sector

Overall new business volume for February was $4.7 billion, down 6 percent from $5 billion in February 2012, according to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s (ELFA) Monthly Leasing and Finance Index (MLFI-25), which reports economic activity from 25 companies representing a cross section of the $725 billion equipment finance sector.

Month-over-month, new business volume was down 20 percent from January. Year to date, cumulative new business volume was up five percent compared to 2012.

Receivables over 30 days increased to 2 percent in February, up from 1.8 percent in January. They were down from 2.5 percent in the same period in 2012. Charge-offs were up slightly at 0.4 percent from their all-time low of 0.3 percent the previous month.

Credit approvals totaled 77.4 percent in February, down 1 percent from January. Fifty-three percent of participating organizations reported submitting more transactions for approval during February, down from 55 percent the previous month.

Finally, total headcount for equipment finance companies was down 3.5 percent from the previous month, and decreased 2.9 percent year over year, largely due to a change in reporting by one survey participant.

Separately, the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation's Monthly Confidence Index (MCI-EFI) for March is 58.0, a slight decrease from the February index of 58.7, reflecting a leveling off in industry participants’ optimism after two consecutive increases.