17
ERA/
IRN
RENTALTRACKER
Businessconditionsnow
Expectations for year fromnow
IRN JUNE 2014
The ERA/
IRN
RentalTracker
survey for the first
quarter of 2014 shows a
continuing positive trend.
Murray Pollok reports.
with companies here among the least optimistic:
none expected business to be ‘much better’ 12
months fromnowandonly 14%wereprepared tosay
‘better’, which was the lowest in the whole region.
Likewise, few French companies were reporting
improvements in time utilisation (just 14%). French
companies were also reporting the worst balance
of opinion on current business conditions, with a
negative balance of -33%.
Overall for Europe, in terms of revenue
expectations for the full year, there has been a
definite improvement in sentiment, with almost half
of all respondents expecting an increase in full-year
sales and just 11.6% expecting a fall.
Here, 89% of UK companies expect full year
revenue improvements, followed by Nordic
companies (73%), multinationals (65%), Benelux
(60%) and Spain (57%). This contrasts with the
much flatter expectations in Italy and France,
where just 22% and 14%of companies, respectively,
expected full-year gains.
P
erhaps no shouting from the rooftops, but
theRentalTracker for the first quarter of 2014
shouldbring further comfort to theEuropean
rental industry, with a continuation of the generally
positive trend of the past half year and particularly
encouraging results from large, multinational rental
companies andbusinesses in theUK.
There are also the first – modest – signs of life
in Spain, with clear majorities reporting improving
year-on-year utilisation rates and activity levels.
There was still a negative balance of opinion on
current business conditions – more reporting
deteriorating conditions than were reporting
improvements – but not bymuch. It shouldbenoted
that the Spanish sample size is not large, so these
first positive signs shouldbe treatedwith caution.
The less happy markets of recent times remain
so: Italy is either bottom or second bottom of
every measure – activity levels, current conditions,
utilisation trends, investment plansand recruitment
plans. France, too, seems to remain a flat market,
UK leads theway
Thesurvey
In total approximately 160 companies in Europe
responded to the ERA/
IRN
RentalTracker survey
for the first quarter of 2014. The survey was
carried out at the end of March, beginning of
April.
Our thanks toall thecompanieswhoparticipated
and to the following organisations who helped
distribute the European survey to theirmembers
and contacts:
■
Assodimi (Italy)
■
ConfalQ (Spain)
■
ConstructionPlant-hireAssociation (CPA) (UK)
■
DLR (France)
■
HireAssociation Europe (HAE) (UK)
■
RusRental (Russia)
■
NorwegianRental Association
■
DanishRental Association
■
TheAssociationof Finnish Technical Traders
The RentalTracker for Europe is a joint venture
between
IRN
magazine and the European Rental
Association (ERA). If you have suggestions about
how the survey could be improved, then please
contact the ERA on
or Helen
Wright,
IRN
Editor, at
FIGURE 2
Deteriorating
Balance of opinion
Same
Improving
FIGURE 1
Worse
Balance of opinion
Same
Better
¬
200%
150%
100%
50%
0%
+8.4%
25.7%
40.2%
34.1%
+16.7%
22.6%
28.2%
39.2%
+0.6%
32.1%
35.2%
32.7%
+39.6%
14.3%
31.9%
53.8%
+30.0%
13.2%
43.7%
43.1%
+36.2%
13.1%
33.7%
49.2%
+60.5%
+46.4%
4.9% 9.4%
29.6% 34.8%
65.4% 55.8%
Q
3-09
Q
3-09
Q
4-09
Q
4-09
Q
1-10
Q
1-10
Q
2-10
Q
2-10
Q
3-10
Q
3-10
Q
1-11
Q
1-11
Q
2-11
Q
2-11
Q
3-11
Q
3-11
Q
4-11
Q
4-11
Q
4-10
Q
4-10
Q
2-13
Q
2-13
Q
3-13
Q
3-13
Q
4-13
Q
1-14
Q
4-13
Q
1-14
Q
4-12
Q
4-12
Q
3-12
Q
3-12
Q
2-12
Q
2-12
Q
1-12
Q
1-12
Q
1-13
Q
1-13
150%
100%
50%
0%
-50%
34.6%
-17.5%
48.3%
17.1%
19.4%
13.4%
47.7%
32.9%
18.9%
16.6%
45.7%
35.4%
18.6%
19.3%
43.4%
37.9%
40.2%
-22.3%
41.8%
17.9%
34.7%
-16.6%
47.2%
18.1%
29.5%
-7.2%
48.2%
22.3%
22.9%
54.3%
22.9%
SPONSOREDBY
Optimism
FORECASTFOR 12MONTHSAHEAD
(LASTQUARTERRESULTS INBRACKETS)
‘Much better’
‘Better’ or
‘muchbetter’
UK
37% (32%) 100%
All Europe
13% (14%)
56%
Spain
14% (12%)
71%
Nordic
18% (7%)
73%
Benelux
10% (7%)
60%
Multinationals 20% (6%)
60%
France
0% (3.7%)
14%
Italy
0% (0%)
50%
