Romania: Leasing market reaches EUR 1.6 bln

Thursday, November 03, 2005

03 November 2005
The leasing market reached a value of EUR 1.6 bln in the first nine months of the year, representing 90 percent of the value registered in 2004, according to an estimate of the Romanian Leasing Companies Association (ASLR), 'ACT Media News Agency' informs.

The contracts concluded in the first nine months of the year reached a value of EUR 860 M, the ASLR press release states. The ASLR member companies have reached 84 percent of the total value of leasing contracts concluded in 2004. ASLR has 49 members and holds over 54 percent of the Romanian leasing market.

In the period of January to September, goods worth EUR 706.5 M have been financed, and out of these automobiles held a share of 90.5 per cent. Equipment represented 6.2 per cent of the total portfolio while the real estate sector was financed only in a proportion of 0.47 per cent. However, this year real estate registered a growth of 80 percent as compared with 2004. Vehicles registered a decrease of 2 percent as compared with last year but the deficit was “compensated by the positive weight of financing industrial equipment, where a growth from 4 to 6 percent was registered in sales,” the press release reads.

Contracts with foreign suppliers represented 60 percent of the total value of goods financed through leasing in the first three quarters of the year. In regard to the maturity, the vast majority of clients, approximately 85 percent, prefer contracts with a medium term maturity of 3-5 years, as compared to a maturity of 1-2 years. The cross-border operations have a share of 1.5 percent in the total of operations conducted by ASLR members, keeping within the range of 2 percent which has been common so far. Operational leasing is constantly losing ground to financial leasing, losing in the past period 4 percent from the 7 percent registered at the end of 2004.

The value of the goods financed through leasing held a share of 63 percent of the contracts, while the public sector and the NGO held 26 percent and individuals 11 percent. Porsche Leasing Romania is the leader within the ASLR, having a market share of 22.2 percent. BCR Leasing follows up by 20.1 percent, Afin leasing by 10.4 percent and RCI Leasing Romania by 9.5 percent.

Source: 'ACT Media News Agency'"