18
ERA/
IRN
RENTALTRACKER
Quarterlyactivityyear-on-year
The survey was conducted in the final two weeks
of March and the first week of April, and generated
around 150 replies. Although still a good response,
this is around 30-50 less than in previous surveys.
There are two reasons for the reduction: first, for
technical reasons we had no responses from Russia
(we hope to resume normal service in the next
survey), and second, we changed our method of
distributing the survey in theBenelux region. Again,
we hope to recover these lost respondents in the
next survey.
The loss of the Russian results has a bearing on
the overall results for the region, because Russian
rental companies have been among the most
positive over the past years or so.
Positive trend
Looking at the total results for Europe, there are
again reasons tobe cheerful. Thebalanceof opinion
on current business conditions remained positive
andmarginally higher than the previous quarter.
In addition, employment intentions have firmed
IRN JUNE 2014
FIGURE 3
Lower
Balance of opinion
Same
Higher
BALANCEOF
OPINIONON
BUSINESS
CONDITIONS
(ENDQ1, 2014)
(previous quarter inbrackets)
UK
+79%
(+58%)
Multinationals +50%
(+22%)
Nordic
+27%
(+28%)
Germany
+27%
Benelux
+20%
(+50%)
All Europe
+19%
(+17%)
Spain
-13%
(-12%)
Italy
-22%
(-45%)
France
-33%
(0)
Note: Balanceof opinion
=proportion seeing
improvement – proportion
seeingworsening conditions.
Regional Trends
TABLE 1
0
0
10
10
10
10
20
20
20
20
30
30
30
30
40
40
40
40
50
50
50
50
60
60
60
60
70
70
70
70
80
80
80
80
90
90
90
90
100
100
100
100
0
0
PERCENTAGEREPORTING
Q1 2014GROWTHVSQ1 2013
(previousquarter results inbrackets)
UK
68%
(84%)
Multinationals
65%
(33%)
Germany
64%
Spain
57%
(12%)
Nordic
45%
(50%)
All Europe
41%
(50%)
Benelux
40%
(57%)
France
10%
(33%)
Italy
6%
(50%)
PERCENTAGEWHOWILL
EMPLOYMORESTAFF INQ22014
(previousquarter results inbrackets)
UK
64%
(26%)
Multinationals
47%
(31%)
Germany
60%
Benelux
40%
(43%)
Nordic
37%
(22%)
All Europe
36%
(29%)
France
24%
(22%)
Spain
14%
(0%)
Italy
12%
(11%)
PERCENTAGEWITH INCREASINGTIME
UTILISATION INQ1 2014
(previousquarter results inbrackets)
UK
71%
(89%)
Spain
67%
(29%)
Benelux
50%
(55%)
Nordic
50%
(46%)
Germany
45%
All Europe
36%
(48%)
Multinationals
33%
(19%)
Italy
18%
(33%)
France
14%
(48%)
PERCENTAGEEXPECTTO INCREASE
INVESTMENTBY >10% IN2014
(previousquarter results inbrackets)
UK
57%
(50%)
Multinationals
53%
(32%)
Nordic
50%
(24%)
Germany
40%
All Europe
34%
(28%)
France
24%
(31%)
Benelux
20%
(14%)
Italy
19%
(40%)
Spain
17%
(8%)
up for the third quarter in a row, with 36.4% of all
respondents expecting to recruit more staff in the
second quarter of this year: the positive balance of
+28.1% is the highest for three years.
Therewas a fall in the positive balance of opinion
on business activity levels year-on-year in the first
quarter, down to +20.7% from +33.1% at the end
of 2013. Even so, double the number of companies
reported increases in first quarter activity than
reported deteriorations. It is likely that the
absence of Russian responses had an impact on
thismeasure.
There has also been a small increase in fleet
investment intentions, with 34% of all companies
Employment
intentions fornext
quarter
FIGURE5
Q
3-09
Q
4-09
Q
1-10
Q
2-10
Q
3-10
Q
1-11
Q
2-11
Q
3-11
Q
4-11
Q
4-10
Q
2-13
Q
3-13
Q
4-13
Q
1-14
Q
4-12
Q
3-12
Q
2-12
Q
1-12
Q
1-13
150%
100%
50%
0%
-50%
-100%
+13.9%
26.1%
33.9%
40.0%
+3.7%
27.9%
41.1%
31.3%
+5.9%
30.1%
33.9%
36.0%
+1.8%
30.4%
37.3%
32.2%
+1.4%
28.8%
41.0%
30.2%
+13.4%
22.3%
42.1%
35.6%
+33.1%
16.6%
33.7%
49.7%
+20.7%
20.0%
39.3%
40.7%
EMPLOYMORE
28.5%
EMPLOY LESS
6.2%
NOCHANGE
65.3%
Asked
end of
Q4 2013
