Data Dashboard

2019 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity goes interactive

Growth once again chased off the specter of an economic downturn as equipment finance companies charted a solid 4.4% overall increase in new business volume for 2018, according to ELFA’s 2019 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity (SEFA). The rise was lower than the 6.9% increase achieved in 2017, but still impressive when compared with growth of the nation’s GDP, reported at 2.9% for 2018 by the U.S. Department of Commerce.



The SEFA report covers key statistical, financial and operations information for the $1 trillion equipment finance industry, based on a survey of 126 ELFA member companies. The 300-page report, which is produced by PricewaterhouseCoopers, offers comprehensive performance metrics—including volume size, organization type, market segment and business model—as well as productivity measures—including residual experience, balance sheet data, financial ratios, profitability data and more.

Highlights

Key findings for 2018 as reported in the 2019 SEFA include:

• New business volume grew 4.4% in 2018. By organization type, independents saw a 14.6% increase in new business volume, captives saw a 6.1% increase and banks saw a 2.9% increase. By market segment, new business volume grew 9.3% in the small ticket segment and 3.7% in middle ticket but declined 1.8% in large ticket.
• From an asset perspective, the top-five most-financed equipment types were IT and related technology services, transportation, construction, agricultural and office machines. The top five end-user industries representing the largest share of new business volume were services, wholesale/retail, transportation, agriculture and industrial and manufacturing.
• Delinquencies edged up in 2018 to 4.5% overall, from 4% in 2017. Delinquencies have been on the rise since 2013 when only 1.2% of receivables were over 31 days past due.
• Charge-offs also increased sharply, more than tripling from 0.27% in 2017 to 1.14% of average receivables in 2018.
• Credit Approvals increased slightly and while the percentage of approved applications being booked dropped slightly, there was an increase in total dollars booked.
• Employment levels grew moderately by 2.1%

Access the Data Online

New this year, members can tap into three different SEFA resources to get the data you need:

• Full SEFA Report – A 300-page PDF document that offers comprehensive performance metrics for 125+ equipment finance companies. The companion Small-Ticket SEFA Report delves into small-ticket portfolios.
• Interactive SEFA Dashboard – A powerful online dashboard that showcases executive summary data from a decade of SEFA reports. Drill down into the data you care about—in just a few clicks. Free and available to all ELFA members.
• MySEFA – A personalized data tool that lets SEFA survey respondents track their own operational and performance statistics and compare them against their peers. Only available to companies that participate in the SEFA.

Member-respondents receive a complimentary copy of the survey report, as well as a confidential and interactive MySEFA dashboard report. Others may purchase the SEFA. Learn more at www.elfaonline.org/SEFA.