The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (the Foundation) releases the July 2021 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI). The index reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $900 billion equipment finance sector. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 72.9, an increase from the June index of 71.3.
“Many industries served by the equipment finance segment are back to full throttle, with only certain negatively impacted industries still working towards recovery. This has created growing demand for our products and services and all signs point to increasing activity over the next few quarters,” says MCI-EFI survey respondent Bruce J. Winter, president, FSG Capital, Inc. “Inflation concerns, driven by unprecedented federal stimulus spending, are front and center and the jury is out as to whether the Fed has correctly forecasted only a short-term bump in inflation.”
July 2021 survey results include:
• When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 58.6% of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, up from 42.3% in June. 41.4% believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, down from 57.7% the previous month. None believe business conditions will worsen, unchanged from June.
• 55.2% of the survey respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (capex) will increase over the next four months, up from 51.9% in June. 41.4% believe demand will “remain the same” during the same four-month time period, a decrease from 48.2% the previous month. 3.5% believe demand will decline, up from none in June.
• 37.9% of the respondents expect more access to capital to fund equipment acquisitions over the next four months, up from 32.1% in June. 62.1% of executives indicate they expect the “same” access to capital to fund business, a decrease from 67.9% last month. None expect “less” access to capital, unchanged from the previous month.
• When asked, 37.9% of the executives report they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, down from 46.2% in June. 62.1% expect no change in headcount over the next four months, an increase from 50% last month. None expect to hire fewer employees, down from 3.9% in June.
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