Leaseurope, the European Federation of Leasing Company Associations is the umbrella body

that represents the leasing industry in Europe. Its membership consists of 27 National
Associations, which in turn represent approximately 1,2 leasing companies. !he countries
represented are" Austria, #elgium, #ulgaria, $yprus, $%ech &epublic, 'enmar(, Estonia, )inland,
)rance, *ermany, *reece, +ungary, Ireland, Italy, ,uxembourg, -orocco, the Netherlands,
Norway, .oland, .ortugal, &omania, /lo0a(ia, /lo0enia, /pain, /weden, /wit%erland and the
1nited 2ingdom
Among other acti0ities, ,easeurope represents the interests of its members in discussions with the
E1 and other international institutions. In collaboration with National ,easing Associations, the
)ederation also computes its own statistics and records on the basis of which the leasing acti0ity
in Europe can be summarised as below.
In 23, the leasing companies represented in ,easeurope in0ested 24 billion euro in e5uipment
and real estate 6including hire7purchase8, i.e. approximately 39: of the total leasing 0olume
worldwide. $ompanies represented through ,easeurope financed approximately 17: of European
gross fixed capital formation
1
. ;n the <ob mar(et, it employed some 3=,
2
people. ;utstandings
amounted to >3 billion euros. ,easeurope represents ?2: of the European leasing mar(et.
1. TOTAL LEASEUROE !AR"ET #$ %&&'
!otal new production in 23 was almost 24 billion euros, up by 7.2: compared to 24. At the
end of the year, outstandings were at >3 billion euros, an increase of 1.?:. !hese figures
demonstrate the increasing importance of leasing as a means of finance throughout Europe.
+owe0er, while o0erall growth is strong, there are sharp di0ergences between the 0arious
,easeurope member countries. /ome of the larger @estern European countries such as the 12
and *ermany for instance underwent sluggish growth. !his seems to indicate that, as leasing is
used to finance in0estment in e5uipment and real estate, in0estment le0els are not what they
should be in these countries. Italy was an exception, performing well with an increase of 1=: in
new business, due mainly to high growth in the real estate sector. /e0eral smaller countries,
1
,easeurope estimate A see below for further details on this calculation
2
,easeurope estimate
7 .age 1 of > 7
including /candina0ia, Austria and $entral and Eastern European countries had growth rates of
around 2: in certain cases.
!he graph below shows the split of the 23 ,easeurope mar(et between the = ,easeurope
clusters
4
. @ith about 94.7 billion euros of new business, the 12 was the single largest contributor
to the ,easeurope mar(et in 23, followed by *ermany with approximately 33.3 billion and Italy
with 4= billion. )rance came next with 2>.? billion euros. !ogether, these four countries represent
71: of the European leasing mar(et. Share by Cluster in Leaseurope Market (2004)8%5%12%19%17%9%%24%! " C##$elelu% "
C&'ran(e)er*any+talyMe,iterraneanS(an,ina-ian./ " +relan,
As from this year, ,easeurope has decided to include hire purchase contacts in its statistics.
!herefore, figures for 24 ha0e been restated to reflect these changes and to allow for
meaningful comparisons. !otal new production in 23 can thus be split into new leasing
contracts which reached 1?1 billion euros and new hire purchase contracts which reach 4? billion
euros. Leasin0 an, &ire 1ur(hase (2e3 1ro,u(tion)175,273190,56338,02939,0090504000100400015040002004000250400020052004Mio 6Leasin0&ire 1ur(hase
!he annual growth rate for new leasing production was =.72: and new hire purchase contracts
rose by .9: compared to the pre0ious year. !he following members declared hire purchase
figures separately from their leasing data" the 12, *ermany, )inland, /weden and /lo0a(ia, with
the 12 representing around =9: of all new hire purchase business.
%. LEAS#$( A$) *#RE URC*ASE OF E+U#!E$T A$) REAL ESTATE
,easeurope membersB business can be di0ided according to the type of asset financed.
!raditionally, the distinction is made between e5uipment and real estate financing. At 1?2 billion
euros, e5uipment leasing and hire purchase represented =4: of ,easeuropeBs new business in
23, real estate leasing accounting for the remaining 17: worth <ust under 47.9 billion euros.
@hile the relati0e proportions of e5uipment and real estate related contract ha0e remained largely
the same since 24, new e5uipment leasing and hire purchase rose by 7.>: compared to 24.
&eal estate leasing increased too, though to a slightly lesser extent at C9.9:.
4
A D $EE E Austria, $%ech &epublic, Estonia, +ungary, .oland, &omania, /lo0a(ia D /lo0eniaF #enelux D
$+ E #elgium, ,uxemburg, the Netherlands and /wit%erlandF -editerranean E /pain, *reece, -orocco D
.ortugalF /candina0ian E 'enmar(, )inland, Norway D /weden.
7 .age 2 of > 7
@ith new real estate leasing production worth around 17 billion euros in 23, Italy is by far the
largest ,easeurope real estate leasing mar(et, representing about 39: of all ,easeurope real estate
leasing. !he -editerranean cluster comes in second place with <ust under > billion, followed by
)rance and *ermany with a new production of 9 billion and 3.? billion respecti0ely. 2e3 1ro,u(tion Split
bet3een #7uip*ent " 8eal #state010400020400050400040400050400004000! " C##$elelu% " C&'ran(e)er*any+talyMe,iterraneanS(an,ina-ian./ " +relan,Mio o9 6#7uip*ent Leasin0 "
&18eal #state Leasin0
% a. E+U#!E$T LEAS#$(
,eased e5uipment increased from 14?.= billion euros in terms of new production in 24, to 194.2
billion in 23, a rise of ?.>:. ;utstanding leased e5uipment contracts were worth 4=.9 billion
euros at the end of 23. Share o9 :i99erent Cate0ories o9 Lease, #7uip*ent25%11%20%54%%%Ma(hinery " +n,ustrialCo*puters "
$usinessMa(hines8;<sCarsShips4 !ir(ra9t4 8ail3ay "8ollin0 Sto(k=ther
As illustrated on the graph 6right8, motor cars ma(e up once again the largest category of leased
assets, representing 43.3: of all e5uipment on lease. )urthermore, transport e5uipment in general
6motorcars, road transport 0ehicles 6&!Gs8 combined with ships, aircraft, railway and rolling
stoc(8 account for slightly o0er >: of all leased e5uipment.
!he segment that underwent the most growth was the Hother e5uipment categoryI, increasing by
17: to reach le0els of =.? billion euros. !he leasing of &!Gs and machinery and industrial
e5uipment performed well too, growing by 19: and 13: respecti0ely.
!achinery Computers RT, Cars -ig Tic.ets Other
A / CEE 1>: 4: 2=: 33: 3: 9:
-ene0u1 /
C* 1?: 2: 1=: 47: 2: 3:
France 4: 1>: 2?: 23: : 1:
(ermany 11: 1: 12: 93: 9: =:
#ta0y 37: 9: 1=: 22: =: :
!editerra
nean 4>: 3: 41: 21: : =:
Scandina2i
an 1?: 22: 21: 29: >: 7:
U" /
#re0and ?: 17: 11: 2?: 21: 12: