The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation’s April 2022 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI) reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $900 billion equipment finance sector. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 56.1, a decrease from the March index of 58.2.
April 2022 survey results are as follows:
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When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 14.8% of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, a decrease from 21.4% in March. 63% believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, up from 50% the previous month. 22.2% believe business conditions will worsen, a decrease from 28.6% in March.
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29.6% of the survey respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (capex) will increase over the next four months, up from 25% in March. 55.6% believe demand will “remain the same” during the same four-month time period, a decrease from 75% the previous month. 14.8% believe demand will decline, up from none in March.
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22.2% of the respondents expect more access to capital to fund equipment acquisitions over the next four months, up from 21.4% in March. 77.8% of executives indicate they expect the “same” access to capital to fund business, a decrease from 78.6% last month. None expect “less” access to capital, unchanged from the previous month.
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When asked, 40.7% of the executives report they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, down from 46.4% in March. 59.3% expect no change in headcount over the next four months, an increase from 50% last month. None expect to hire fewer employees, down from 3.6% in March.
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14.8% of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as “excellent,” an increase from 3.6% the previous month. 74.1% of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as “fair,” down from 85.7% in March. 11.1% evaluate it as “poor,” a slight increase from 10.7% last month.
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7.4% of the survey respondents believe that U.S. economic conditions will get “better” over the next six months, relatively unchanged from 7.1% in March. 51.9% indicate they believe the U.S. economy will “stay the same” over the next six months, a decrease from 57.1% last month. 40.7% believe economic conditions in the U.S. will worsen over the next six months, an increase from 35.7% the previous month.
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In April 29.6% of respondents indicate they believe their company will increase spending on business development activities during the next six months, down from 42.9% the previous month. 66.7% believe there will be “no change” in business development spending, up from 57.1% in March. 3.7% believe there will be a decrease in spending, up from none last month.
