Impuls Leasing: Auto leasing market will not pick up until March 2010

Impuls Leasing, the seventh largest player on the Romanian leasing market, financed goods worth 50 million euros in the first six months of 2009, down 57% against the same period of last year, said Razvan Diaconescu, the company’s general manager.

“The most visible reason for this decline is the crisis, which caused the market to perform rather poorly in the first six months of the year, with a 65-70% average decline recorded since the beginning of 2009 on the auto segment, whilst the lorry market plunged by around 80%, and the equipment market by over 90%,” specified Diaconescu.

In the first three months of the year Impuls Leasing funded goods worth 23.6 million euros in total amount, down by 58% against the similar time of 2008, whilst in the first half of last year the company reported over 117.46 million euros in turnover.

Impuls Leasing’s general manager estimates the company could fund goods worth up to 100 million euros, with around 8,000-9,000 contracts to be sealed by the end of the year, after 4,200 leasing contracts were concluded in the first six months of the year.

The progression of the Romanian auto leasing market has been affected not only by the crisis, but also by its collateral consequences, according to Diaconescu.

“The rise in the RON/EUR exchange rate was another evident problem for our clients, who pay their instalments in euros, and this discouraged them from sealing leasing contracts,” said Diaconescu, specifying that around 74% of the contracts concluded by the company since the beginning of the year targeted the segment of cars and utility vehicles, with just 26% of the contracts involving other types of vehicles, such as lorries, trailers and semi-trailers, and equipment used in the construction sector.

Razvan Diaconescu, who holds 5% in Impuls Leasing, expects the auto market to see a similar progression in the second half of the year to that recorded in the first half, and has similarly pessimistic expectations for the first two months of next year.

“In 2010, the first signs of a market revival will appear as late as March, whilst January and February will be as weak as in 2009, although this tends to be the weakest time in the entire year for leasing companies,” Diaconescu specified.