Equipment Finance Industry Confidence Shows Third Consecutive Month of Improvement

March 2011:  The overall Equipment Finance Industry Confidence is at 72.4, a third consecutive month of improvement.  This is great news for the Leasing industry showing that more people are starting to look to leasing for a financing solution when making purchases.  If your company is not offering a leasing source for its equipment sales, you should contact ExecuTech today and at lease look at the options we have to offer.  (360)713-0695

March 2011 Survey Results:

The overall MCI-EFI is 72.4, an increase from the February index of 71.6.

• When asked to assess if their current business conditions would remain the same over the next four months, 67.5% of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, an increase from 55.3% in February. 32.5% of respondents believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, a decrease from 44.7% in February.
• 65% of survey respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (capex) will increase over the next four months, up from 55.3% in February. 35% believe demand will "remain the same" during the same four-month time period, down from 42.1 % in February. No one believes demand will decrease, down from 2.6% last month.
• 37.5% of executives expect more access to capital to fund equipment acquisitions over the next four months, up from 34.2% in February. 62.5% of survey respondents indicate they expect the "same" access to capital to fund business, a decrease from 65.8% in February. In the last four months' surveys, no one responded that they expect "less" access to capital.
• When asked, 40% of the executives reported they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, down from 44.7% in February. 52.5% expect no change in headcount over the next four months, unchanged from last month, while 7.5% expect fewer employees, an increase from 2.6% in February.
• 92.5% of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as "fair," up slightly from 92.1% who did in February. 7.5% rate it as "poor," down slightly from 7.9% in February.
• 57.5% of survey respondents believe that U.S. economic conditions will get "better" over the next six months, up from 50.0% in February. 37.5% of survey respondents indicate they believe the U.S. economy will "stay the same" over the next six months, down from 50.0% in February. 5.0% responded that they believe economic conditions in the U.S. will worsen over the next six months, up from no one who believed so last month.
• In March, 45% of respondents indicate they believe their company will increase spending on business development activities during the next six months, down from 57.9% in February. 55% believe there will be "no change" in business development spending, up from 42.1% last month, and no one believes there will be a decrease in spending, unchanged from last month.

Survey results used above along with demographics and additional information on MCI can be found at http://www.leasefoundation.org/IndRsrcs/MCI/0311.htm

Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation. "Monthly Confidence Index- Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI)." Web. 21 March 2011. <http://www.leasefoundation.org/IndRsrcs/MCI/0311.htm>