Romanian operational leasing market set to reach over EUR 280 mln by year end

Newsroom 27/07/2012 | 11:57

The operational leasing market will grow by 20 to 30 percent this year reaching EUR 280 -300 million, as more companies are looking to cut costs and externalize leasing operations, according to Bogdan Apahidean, president of the Association of Operational Leasing Companies (ASLO).

He added that the market has increased annually by 20 to 30 percent in the last five years, and this trend will be maintained this year as well.

“We had 41,000 vehicles administered though operational leasing at the end of the first semester, which is a 10 percent increase from the start of the year,” said Apahidean. “In addition, the turnover of the companies active on this market stood at EUR 150 million last semester.”

Mugur Curca, sales manager at UniCredit Leasing Fleet Management, said that the market went up because mangers set up their budgets better.

“The Romanian private companies are still reluctant in adopting operational leasing, and is state – owned companies, such as the Post or Police, this is out of question, although many EU members states are already using it,” said Apahidean.

Full operational leasing, including financing and fleet management, represents 70 percent of the services provided to customers, while 20 percent account for fleet management.

The ALSO president said that the advantage of operational leasing over financial leasing is better understood by multinational companies that have over 15 vehicles in their fleet.