“Exciting times” as Bibby Leasing hits expansion trail

The outlook for new business leasing volumes over the coming six months is particularly positive for European lessors.

The recent Leaseurope/Invigors European Business Confidence Survey revealed that 74% of those surveyed expecting new business volumes to increase, while just 10% anticipate a decline.

With the economic prospects for Europe improving and concerns caused by the eurozone crisis now consigned to the past, most of those taking part in the latest survey expressed a positive opinion on the outlook for their businesses over the first half of 2014.

So it is with UK-based Bibby Leasing which last month significantly increased its national operation with the appointment of five experienced leasing staff.

Carol Roberts, Bibby Leasing’s managing director told Asset Finance International that she anticipates solid growth for the company throughout 2014 – especially in those asset sectors in which Bibby specialises. These include engineering, materials handling, catering, IT solutions and a range of automotive assets – including minibuses for schools via an established vendor relationship.

“We source new business from a range of brokers with specialist knowledge,” she explained, “and often from vendor relationships.”

She added: “We are seeking to increase our broker panel and endeavouring to develop our partnership arrangements with existing intermediaries and seeking to increase levels, and quality, of new business from each source.”

As an example of current new business activity she said: “We have recently funded a £115k deal via a broker for a client to acquire technology – both hardware and software was included in the package. The customer is an agricultural and garden machinery supplier that was looking to upgrade its IT systems as growing demand for its e-commerce trade was proving difficult for its existing IT and accounting systems to handle.

“We helped this SME company to upgrade in order to grow its business and the growing demands of e-commerce.”

Roberts, who originally joined the company in her present role in 2004, confirms that small businesses are increasingly seeking growth through capex investment although “it does largely depend upon the sector”. “In the materials handling arena we are witnessing some solid growth, however.”

Bibby Leasing operates within Bibby Financial Services one of the UK’s leading independent invoice finance specialists which currently provides cash flow funding for around 3,940 businesses. It handles annual client turnover of £3.9bn and advances in the region of £342m.

In two consecutive years – 2011 and 2012 – the company was awarded a place in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For, based on workplace performance and best practice.

Carol Roberts says that moving forward; the business has sufficient funding in place to develop its three year plan. “We are pleased to be an independent leasing company and not part of a bank,” she stressed. “We are achieving low bad debt ratios and our biggest ongoing aim is to find the most appropriate customers with which to transact larger business levels.”

The recent recruitment of five experienced leasing staff is only the latest staff expansion reported by Bibby Leasing. Last December Bibby Leasing recruited Don Hirst as sales director and Lauren Phipps as risk manager. Hirst joined from Aldermore where he was head of Broker & Professions whilst Phipps was previously a structured risk analyst at GE Capital Equipment Finance – having worked in risk for more than 20 years, including positions with De Lage Landen and BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions.

“These are very exciting times for us,” said Roberts who recently celebrated her 50th year in the industry.