The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (the Foundation) releases the January 2020 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI). 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 $900 billion equipment finance sector. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market rose for the third consecutive month to 59.9, an increase from the December index of 56.2.
When asked about the outlook for the future, MCI-EFI survey respondent David Normandin, CLFP, president and CEO, Wintrust Specialty Finance, says, “Demand for leasing in the segments we are involved in has remained strong with huge demand in Q4 2019. Credit quality has remained solid, and pull through has been good. Unemployment remains low and we see small business customers remaining optimistic.”
When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 14.8% of executives responding say they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, up from 10.3% in December. 81.5% of respondents believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, a decrease from 82.8% the previous month. 3.7% believe business conditions will worsen, down from 6.9% in December.
Just over 11% of the survey respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (capex) will increase over the next four months, an increase from 10% in December. 85.2% believe demand will “remain the same” during the same four-month time period, an increase from 76.7% the previous month. 3.7% believe demand will decline, down from 13.3% in December.
When asked, 33.3% of the executives report they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, an increase from 30% in December. 63% expect no change in headcount over the next four months, relatively unchanged from 63.3% last month. 3.7% expect to hire fewer employees, down from 6.7% the previous month.
For more information, visit: www.leasefoundation.org
