Leaseurope, the representative body of the European leasing and automotive rental industry, together with Invigors EMEA, the specialist international equipment leasing and asset finance consultancy, have just published the results of the biannual Leaseurope/Invigors European Business Confidence Survey.

These findings confirm the optimism evident at the beginning of the year, with many of the survey’s measures showing continued improvement from the previous survey conducted in December 2013.

The outlook for new business volumes over the coming six months is particularly positive, with 90% of those surveyed expecting new business volumes to increase, while just 2% anticipate a decline. Expectations on the level of bad debt remain at a similar level to the previous survey with the majority of participants (62%) forecasting that bad debt will remain unchanged over the coming 6 months. Similarly, 57% expect no change in margins, while 29% predict that margins will decrease in their organisations, the same as in the previous survey. The results also show over 58% of survey respondents forecast that net profits for their business will increase over the same period, again a similar percentage to that recorded last December.

Industry expectations on a number of key indicators covering service levels, expenditure and staffing also indicate improvements for the second half of 2014, and over half of respondents (57%) said that their organisations are targeting expansion. Growth was focused on asset classes such as vehicles, agriculture and technology as well as geographic expansion within and outside of Europe.

Commenting on these results, Invigors EMEA Partner Richard Ryan adds, “Business sentiment in the European asset finance industry remains bullish as the economic outlook and business finances continue to improve. Nearly 70% of respondents in the June survey are more optimistic about the prospects for the next six months, up from 60% last December. A further 26% felt that these were unchanged, while only 5% thought that their business prospects would worsen.”

To read the full survey results, click here.