The survey results for the second quarter of 2021, jointly organized by the European Rental Association (ERA) and International Rental News (IRN) magazine, show that the equipment rental industry is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the companies surveyed in the last two weeks of June, positive responses dominated overwhelmingly.
The equipment leasing industry experienced a rapid decline in the first quarter of 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, even worse than during the financial crisis. But the recovery is also rapid, just like the overall economic recovery, the leasing business has started to rebound from the most serious crisis.
The same applies to the trend of device utilization, with 70% of respondents indicating an increasing trend in device utilization in the second quarter, and only 6% indicating a decrease in device utilization in the second quarter.
Regarding next year’s judgment
The respondents also hold an optimistic attitude towards the coming year, with 74% predicting an improvement in the business environment one year from now and less than 5% expecting the situation to worsen.
Of course, these judgments are based on expectations for the pandemic. Although the world has not yet emerged from the predicament, we are on a path of improvement, and with the advancement of vaccination plans, we can expect a return to normal life.
This is also reflected in the survey results on employment intentions: nearly 53% of the surveyed companies expect to increase their workforce in the third quarter of 2021, which is close to the record level from late 2017 to 2018. Only 3% of the surveyed companies expect a decrease in the number of employees in the next quarter.
Similarly, there is a similar positive judgment regarding the expected investment in equipment fleets for the coming year. 64% of the surveyed companies will increase their equipment investment this year, indicating a significant improvement in optimism. Compared to this year, it is expected that the proportion of expenditure in 2022 will be even higher, reaching 68%, which is also very positive.
Regarding Regional Differences
Due to significant differences in the ways different countries respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, this is reflected in the fact that the leasing industry in certain countries (especially the UK, France, Spain, and Italy) still faces severe challenges, while there are much fewer problems in markets such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Nordic countries (such as Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark).
Similarly, countries with less impact last year had a smaller rebound: for example, the Nordic companies surveyed had a lower than average positive trend judgment in the second quarter because they were less affected by the pandemic.
That is to say, the more severely affected by the epidemic, the more obvious the rebound in new cases.
Overall, for the equipment leasing industry that is still on the path of recovery, the results are reassuring, with an expected increase in investment levels and employment numbers. Most respondents are optimistic about further improvement in the coming year.
(This article is from KHL)
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