The Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) has revealed statistics showing that the asset finance industry has grown for the 25th consecutive month. As a result of this and current market conditions the industry expects further growth of 10% in new business asset finance in 2016.
According to the latest figures from the FLA asset finance relating to new business saw an increase of 3% in October 2015 compared to the October 2014. This represented a total of £2.51bn overall. Car finance was by the far the biggest growth area in leasing with 6% year on year growth recorded followed by IT equipment finance (2%) and plant and machinery accounting for 1%.
IT equipment finance was worth a total of £170m in the 12 months to October 2015 while car leasing finance represented £864m.
The one area that bucked the positive trend was business equipment finance which saw a negative year on year trend, falling by 12%. This meant that the sector was worth £159m overall.
Geraldine Kilkelly, head of research and chief economist at the FLA, said: “October saw continued growth across most of the main asset finance sectors, although the slowdown in emerging markets in recent months and falls in commodity prices have hit demand for construction and agricultural equipment finance.”