SEB: car leasing comprised half of the total property leased last year

New sales on the leasing market were slightly in the negative last year, due in part to the sanctions related to Russia. At the same time there was a significant increase in the volume of vehicle leasing, announced SEB Liising.

According to data from the Bank of Estonia, new sales on the leasing market decreased by 4 per cent, from EUR 747 million to EUR 716 million. Leasing has experienced a significant decline in the case of those types of leasing property which are directly affected by the European Union’s sanctions imposed on Russia due to the Ukrainian conflict: the leasing of agricultural equipment and technology decreased by almost 19 per cent and the leasing of railway engines is practically non-existent at present.

“On the one hand, the leasing of agricultural equipment and technology has decreased due to the fact that new agricultural grants were not paid last year. On the other hand, the situation was also definitely affected by the uncertainty resulting from the sanctions imposed on Russia, forcing many farmers to review their investment plans and focus on cutting costs instead,” explained Ainar Leppänen, Member of the Management Board and Managing Director of SEB Liising.

Compared to previous years, the leasing of rolling stock has seen a dramatic decrease. While in 2012 rolling stock was leased in the sum of EUR 110 million, and in the year before last the sum was EUR 13 million, then last year the figure was only EUR 400,000. “As most of the rolling stock belonging to Estonian clients is operating in Russia and the CIS countries, then it is understandable why things are at such a standstill,” said Leppänen.

Positive indicators were also present on the leasing market last year
Both the leasing of production equipment as well as vehicles has been rising. The leasing of production equipment rose by an impressive 41 per cent, which shows that the willingness and need to make investments has recovered among companies operating in the field. At the same time it did not have a significant impact of the market as a whole, as the leasing of production equipment comprises only 6.7 per cent of the leasing market (EUR 48 million).

In the year as a whole, vehicle leasing grew by 5 per cent. According to Leppänen, this is related to the growth of the sale of vehicles on the market (6 per cent), but also to the amendment of the Value-Added Tax Act, which is why many companies rewrote their operational lease contracts as financial lease contracts or simply made their leasing decision before the law entered into force. “When looking at the leasing market as a whole, last year was a good year for vehicle leasing, and this type of property was also one of the drivers of the leasing market, given the fact that vehicles comprised half of all the property leased last year,” commented Leppänen.

For more information:

Evelin Allas
Communications Manager
Marketing and Communications Division
SEB
Phone +372 665 5649
Mobile +372 511 1718
Address Tornimäe 2, 15010 Tallinn
E-mail evelin.allas@seb.ee
www.seb.ee

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