French equipment finance soars back to pre-recession levels as market confidence grows

Igor Szabados, head of business development-EMEA at Alfa comments on the French market.

The French equipment finance market has reached a major milestone in its recovery as quarterly growth reached levels last seen before the global recession nearly a decade ago.

Data revealed by the Association Française des Sociétés Financières (ASF) shows that the country’s rental and equipment finance companies registered double-digit annual growth worth €25.2bn for the rolling 12-month period to the end of September 2016.

Igor Szabados, head of business development-EMEA at Alfa said: “The optimism of French equipment finance companies is high as production is now comparable to pre-global financial crisis levels, when there was €25.4bn year-on-year growth for the period Q3 2007 – Q3 2008.”

ASF highlight some threats to current growth, notably from the destabilising impact of political changes, however.

This includes the UK’s referendum vote to leave the European Union, the global impact of US-centric policies being introduced by the country’s new president, Donald Trump, and ongoing political conflict over banking debt in Italy.

While major European economies will face potential significant change this year, with the French presidential election starting next month and Germany federal elections due in September, the strength of the French market’s recovery is a good indication of a robust economy that can adapt to change.

The value of new investments increased by 12.3% in the first nine months of 2016, compared to only 4.4% in the same period in 2015. Frédéric Laurent, Alfa’s operations director in France, said: “This is a very promising sign”.