Equipment Leasing Association's Monthly Leasing Index For May Shows Slight Decrease in New Business Volume Compared to April's Robust Showing

Thursday, June 30, 2005

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 30, 2005--The Equipment Leasing Association (ELA) today released the Monthly Leasing Index (MLI), which surveys approximately 20 major equipment leasing companies on a monthly basis. Results of the May 2005 MLI show a very slight downturn for the month. New business volume decreased from April's $4.7 billion to $4.04 billion in May.

'Business remains good for equipment leasing companies even with volume being down slightly,' said Ralph Petta, ELA's Vice President of Industry Services. 'April had robust growth in volume, so we're not surprised to see slightly less business volume in May.'

Delinquencies (net of unearned income billed but not yet received) remained virtually unchanged in May. Credit approval ratios also decreased very slightly to 76.0 percent over April's 76.3 percent. Average charge-offs increased, coming in at 0.42 percent from April's 0.36 percent. The total number of employees also decreased very slightly, dropping 0.2 percent in May to 9,243 compared to 9,259 in April.

The MLI is issued on the 30th of every month(1) and provides trend analysis across all major performance areas of lessors, including new business volume, aging of receivables, average loss, credit approval ratios and number of employees.

Because the same companies participate in the study each month, the MLI provides a fairly reliable and consistent trend analysis of current industry activity. Results of each MLI are posted on the ELA website and in Equipment Leasing Today magazine.

Charts and graphs are available for reprint to members of the accredited media. The illustrations reflect the data provided by those companies responding to that particular question. Typically, not every company polled responds to every question.

In addition to the MLI, ELA provides a variety of data, including customized market analyses, to ELA members and organizations involved in the forecasted $248 billion equipment leasing industry. To access this and other industry information, visit the ELA website at http://www.elaonline.com/IndustryData/ or contact Dean Frutiger at (703) 516-8380.

(1) Should the 30th of the month fall on a non-business day or holiday, the ELA Monthly Leasing Index will be issued on the next business day closest to the 30th."