The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (the Foundation) released the September 2014 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI), which reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $827 billion equipment finance sector. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 60.2, an increase from the August index of 58.9.
“We are experiencing stronger demand than in the past several months, which bodes well for a strong fourth quarter," said survey respondent Valerie Hayes Jester, President, Brandywine Capital Associates, Inc. "There is still concern for yield erosion, but we look forward to concluding the year on a positive trend.”
September 2014 survey results
When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months:
- 36.4% of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, up from 18.2% in August
- 60.6% believe business conditions will remain the same, down from 78.8% in August
- 3% believe business conditions will worsen, unchanged from the previous month
- 30.3% believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (capex) will increase, up from 21.2% in August
- 66.7% believe demand will “remain the same”, down from 75.8% the previous month
- 3% believe demand will decline, unchanged from August
- 15.2% expect more access to capital to fund equipment acquisitions, unchanged from August
- 84.8% expect the “same” access to capital to fund business and none expects “less” access to capital, both also unchanged from the previous month
- 30.3% expect to hire more employees over the next four months, a decrease from 33.3% in August
- 60.6% expect no change in headcount, up from 57.6% last month
- 9.1% expect fewer employees, unchanged from August
- 6.1% of the leadership evaluates the current U.S. economy as “excellent,” unchanged from last month
- 87.9% evaluates the current U.S. economy as “fair,” and 6.1% rate it as “poor,” both also unchanged from August
When asked to assess conditions over the next six months:
- 27.3% believe that U.S. economic conditions will get “better”, a decrease from 30.3% who believed so in August
- 66.7% believe the U.S. economy will “stay the same”, unchanged from August
- 6.1% believe economic conditions in the U.S. will worsen, up from 3% who believed so last month
- 15.2% believe their company will increase spending on business development activities, a decrease from 21.2% in August
- 84.8% believe there will be “no change” in business development spending, an increase from 78.8% last month
- None believe there will be a decrease in spending, unchanged from last month.
