Last month, Leasing Life  reported on growth plans from WestWon Capital, Associated Commercial Finance, Capital Solutions Group, and Premier Asset Finance, an outfit comprising ex-Bank of Scotland (BoS) sales veterans.

Now, another broker formed in the aftermath of BoS’ withdrawal from the transport and logistics market has signalled its ambitions.

T&L Leasing is a specialist broker – possibly the only one of its kind – working in the field of heavy commercial vehicles.

After launching in January 2009, the first year of trading for the Chester-based introducer saw more than 1,000 vehicles financed via 150 deals with 10 lenders, most of which are based in Europe and the Middle East.

So far, T&L has almost entirely worked with customers and suppliers known from the BoS era, in addition to clients introduced from that pool.

The fact that almost all of T&L’s deals are with clients with good borrowing histories with BoS has made its funders comfortable to discuss greater lending volumes for next year, with three of them going so far as to set formal targets.

While director Phil Snewin does not want to count any chickens before they are hatched, he says that no deals introduced so far – almost all of which have been over £250,000 in size – have caused any problems for funders.

Snewin, previously head of transport and logistics at BoS’ asset finance business, started the business with renowned commercial vehicle expert Paul Lewis and national accounts manager Darren Hallmark.

Now they are looking to hire more staff, in anticipation of what Snewin says will be a second year of growth.

“The trailer market, in particular, has not been hit as hard as the heavy CV market has” says Snewin, adding that the transport market in general was seeing a lot of pent up demand as a result of fleet replacement decisions postponed in late 2008 and 2009.

“Many of the customers we have spoken to this year have got substantial buying plans for the next 18 months” he concludes.

T&L’s confidence is rooted in the proven quality of its niche customer book. However, more generalist intermediaries are also approaching the year with cautious optimism.

Meanwhile, Leasing Programmes (LP), which has kept its own book since 1991, is open to expanding it through acquisitions this year, says director Andrew Wyeth.

Presently, LP has around £2 million of outstanding loans, and since January has been looking to purchase portfolios up to the £10 million mark – “although we would certainly take a long look at anything beyond that threshold” Wyeth adds.

The drive behind this appetite comes from one of LP’s investors, a private equity entity attached to a large banking group.

In the meantime, Wyeth will concentrate on building the firm through targeting sales aid business outside the motor finance and office equipment sectors.

What will go on the book for now will be generally below £50,000 in size, generally for exposure reasons. LP is very cautious on this front, with even exposure to NHS trusts limited in the run up to likely public sector budget cuts.

Unusually for a sales aid broker, LP insists on meeting the customers of the suppliers it works with on any deal worth more than £10,000 – a measure which keeps Wyeth’s team of six salaried staff extremely busy, but which drastically lessens the risk of fraud or client failure.

This transactional methodology, applied to a flow rate business model, has leant a lot of weight to LP’s funding proposals, Wyeth says, calling the strategy “a step backwards in time” and comparing it to the old NWS/Capital bank model.

Partly as a result of this demanding meeting schedule, LP’s business is generally limited to within 100 miles of its base in Exeter. Nevertheless, it does work with a number of suppliers in East Anglia and Scotland.

Most of LP’s business comes from the ‘coffin’ – the coffin-shaped corridor connecting Manchester and London, and taking in Birmingham and Leicester. Nevertheless, it also works with suppliers as far afield as East Anglia and Scotland.

At the same time, another smaller broker, Premier Leasing, is preparing to enter several new markets and reengage in growth after streamlining itself during 2009.

Premier’s last financial results showed turnover down 30 percent year-on-year to reach around £7 million, but profits up considerably. This was partially a result of several redundancies, reducing staffing to 10 but lowering overheads considerably and keeping the business alive and well.

Now, Jones says that Premier is in a “very strong position” to move forward, with several big developments on the way before the end of its financial year in June.

It has been contacted by several new funders, with ten lines already established, and is about to open a new office in Manchester. In addition to this, it is planning several key hires this quarter, with a view to breaking into valuable new sectors.

One of these will be the professions finance sector, without a doubt the most hotly pursued asset finance market in 2010. Another target will be larger public sector deals – an arena in which Premier has had some experience through placing smaller business for around 30 local authorities nationwide.

Aiding Premier in its expansion will be its new proposal management system, into which around £100,000 has been invested over the last two years, and customer relationship management expert Dave Webber, who continues to develop the company’s CRM platform.

Asset expertise has also kept many brokers healthy – take for example UCF Finance and Ilsley Finance, both of which have maintained buoyant in the highly troubled print market, or agricultural introducer group AGF, which has kept a very high quality contact book in the farming community.

Other brokers are pushing ahead with new specialisms. John Barter at Oak Lease seems to be continuing his Google-powered assault on the world of European asset finance, while the long-standing directors of Lease UK are exploring new types of sales-aid programme.

Meanwhile, Quartz Finance and Norton Folgate remain at large in the highly international world of yacht and jet leasing, and the commercial and asset finance arm of advisory firm Vantis is expanding its role as an intermediary to offer services in the field of portfolio review and client restructuring aid.

Others still that have already proven their sales strength on the open market are now continuing their work under new ownership – LeaseDirect Finance has provided the vehicle through which Investec Asset Finance will build its presence in the professions finance space, while Wyse Finance has been adopted as the front-end engine of German-owned IT lessor CHG Meridian.

Back in final quarter of 2008, many brokers were wondering if the culture of introduced business in asset finance was coming to an end.

Now, after 18 savagely difficult months, the inverse has been proved – activity in the broker market has exploded in the first quarter of 2010, and growth is no longer a dirty word.

On the day this article was written, two brokerages reported that the ink was drying on the biggest contracts they had ever signed, while a surprising number of introducers spoken to were looking to take on staff.

Elsewhere in the industry,  lenders are now openly inviting more introduced business. Along with ING Lease’s undiminished support for the broker world, a number of other portfolios are growing more receptive, with Armada Finance, Black Arrow Finance and Aldermore all seeking greater panels this year.

Article contributed by Fred Crawley – Senior Reporter, Leasing Life & Motor Finance

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