Leasing companies in Slovakia that are members of the Leasing Companies Association (ALS) reported 12.4 percent year-on-year growth in the volume of financed movable and immovable assets to Sk40.885 billion (€1.357 billion) in the first half of this year, the SITA newswire wrote.
This year's growth is higher by nearly one-half compared with the same period a year ago, when it represented 9.1 percent. The number of new contracts grew nearly 12 percent year-on-year to over 53,000. With regard to the total financed volume, the top three leasing companies on the Slovak market in the first six months of 2008 were ČSOB Leasing, UniCredit Leasing Slovakia and Tatra-Leasing.
Leasing of movable assets accounted for Sk39.425 billion (€1.309 billion) and the volume of immovable assets made up Sk1.46 billion (€48.46 million). Contracts on leasing of movable assets grew, while leasing of immovable assets posted a decrease. According to the association, given the specific nature of leasing immovable assets, this is not an extraordinary mid-year.
The analysis of financed assets shows that the volume of passenger cars lease financing achieved the biggest share on the movable assets leasing market, worth Sk12.36 billion (€410.3 million) on 10 percent year-on-year growth. Although passenger cars are generally the most often financed item, their share on the commodity structure has been shrinking constantly.
Machinery and equipment-lease financing followed with a 21.5 percent growth rate to Sk9.921 billion (€329.3 million). Leasing of utility vehicles is growing the most according to ALS, up 26.4 percent to Sk7.12 billion (€236.3 million). On the other hand, leasing of trucks posted quite slow growth dynamics of 2.5 percent year-on-year to Sk8.464 billion (€281 million). SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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