Equipment Leasing and Finance Industry Confidence Increases Again in March

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation released the March 2015 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry. Designed to collect leadership data, the index reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $903-billion equipment finance sector. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 72.1, the highest level in four years, and an increase from the February index of 66.3.    

When asked about the outlook for the future, MCI-EFI survey respondent Harry Kaplun, president, Frost Equipment Leasing and Finance, said, “Equipment financing demand is continuing although there are increasing clouds of uncertainty. In particular, the full impact of lower oil prices has not been seen. This favorable event for consumers has a mixed impact commercially.”

March 2015 Survey Results:

The overall MCI-EFI is 72.1, an increase from the February index of 66.3.

• When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 50 percent of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, up from 30.3 percent in February. 50 percent of respondents believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, down from 63.6 percent in February. None believe business conditions will worsen, down from 6.1 percent who believed so the previous month.
• 41.7 percent of survey respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures will increase over the next four months, down from 42.4 percent in February. 58.3 percent believe demand will “remain the same” during the same four-month time period, up from 51.5 percent the previous month. None believe demand will decline, down from 6.1 percent in February.
• 25 percent of executives expect more access to capital to fund equipment acquisitions over the next four months, down from 27.3 percent in February. 75 percent of survey respondents indicate they expect the “same” access to capital to fund business, up from 72.7 percent in February. None expect “less” access to capital, unchanged from the previous month.
• When asked, 70.8 percent of the executives reported they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, an increase from 39.4 percent in February. 25 percent expect no change in headcount over the next four months, down from 57.6 percent last month. 4.2 percent expect to hire fewer employees, up from 3 percent who expected fewer in February.
• 12.5 percent of the leadership evaluate the U.S. economy as “excellent,” up from 6.1 percent last month. 87.5 percent of the leadership evaluate the economy as “fair,” down from 90.9 percent in February. None rate it as “poor,” down from 3 percent the previous month.
• 45.8 percent of the survey respondents believe that U.S. economic conditions will get “better” over the next six months, relatively unchanged from 45.5 percent who believed so in February. 54.2 percent of survey respondents indicate they believe the U.S. economy will “stay the same” over the next six months, unchanged from February. None believe economic conditions in the U.S. will worsen over the next six months, also unchanged from last month.
• In March, 58.3 percent of respondents indicate they believe their company will increase spending on business development activities during the next six months, an increase from 48.5 percent in February. 41.7 percent believe there will be “no change” in business development spending, a decrease from 51.5 percent last month. None believe there will be a decrease in spending, unchanged from last month.