Trading Update
April 21 2008 - 8:09AM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:7640S
Potential Finance Group PLC
21 April 2008
Potential Finance Group plc
Trading Update
The Board is pleased to provide the following update on trading within the
Group's businesses for the six months to 31 March 2008.
Potential Vehicle Hire
When we reported on our September 2007 financial result, we stated that we
anticipated further expansion in the fleet operated by Potential Vehicle Hire
(PVH), our light commercial vehicle rental business.
We are pleased to report that PVH has experienced significant growth in the last
six months and that the fleet size is now approaching the 1,000 vehicle
milestone.
This growth is underpinned by the high quality service that we provide to our
clients, which has resulted in exceptional utilisation levels since we commenced
trading in early 2007.
With the trend continuing to move towards vehicle 'usership' rather than
ownership, we believe that the UK is following the US model, where around one
third of commercial vehicles are rented. Our target market is a substantial one,
with around three million UK users in total, 90% of whom currently purchase
their vehicles.
With the vehicle rental market already growing at 4% per annum, we are very
positive about the future trading prospects in this sector.
Potential Asset Finance
We are pleased to report that the vehicle and asset finance brokerage division
of Potential Asset Finance is now fully operational and that our national sales
team continues to mature; we have developed a network of 15 strategically
located business development managers throughout the UK, calling on motor
dealers, equipment suppliers and direct business customers. Our dedicated online
proposal management and quotation system recently went live and the initial
market response to this facility has been extremely encouraging.
New business volumes have been accelerated since the implementation of this
unique and efficient front-end delivery process, which has also streamlined our
back office proposal management function.
Approval turnaround times have been dramatically reduced and record levels of
new business applications are being received, with the result that hire purchase
and loan advances placed have increased year on year by over 60%. March 2008 was
a record month with over �1 million of brokerage business placed.
In order to further capitalise on the effect of increasing consolidation in the
banking sector particularly in the vehicle finance arena, we intend to implement
a tele-sales strategy, based in our Brentwood offices which will focus on
identifying additional opportunities for us in the motor dealer and commercial
vehicle supplier markets.
This is an exciting period for Potential Finance Group, and we will report more
fully on an encouraging half-year result in due course.
21 April 2008
Enquiries:
Potential Finance Group plc 01277 237 160
Colin Swanston
Managing Director
Vivien Ware
Finance Director
Charles Stanley Securities
(Nominated Adviser)
Philip Davies / Carl Holmes 020 7149 6000
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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