CONTACT ERA:
European Rental Association (ERA)
Avenue Jules Bordet 142
B-1140 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: + 32 2 761 1604
Fax: + 32 2 761 1699
E-MAIL:
Secretariat-Administration:
Secretary General:
the International Rental Exhibition (IRE), the only
tradeshow solely dedicated to the construction
equipment rental industry in Europe, which takes
place every three years.
APEX, the aerial platform exhibition, will be held
on the same dates in the same location, just next
to the IRE show. The several thousand visitors to
APEX and IRE will be able to visit both exhibitions.
This combination – supplemented by our annual
Convention - provides a unique opportunity for
exhibitors to meet rental buyers and professionals
interested in purchasing and discovering new
equipment and services at the same venue in only
three days.
I hope to see you in great numbers in Amsterdam
in June and, in the meantime, I wish you a successful
start to the year!
■
37
ERA NEWS
The rental market has changed over the past five years, says Vesa Koivula, president
of the European Rental Association (ERA), and it is now up to rental companies to
see opportunities in this new environment.
Rental advantage
F
irst of all, I would like to wish you all and your
families a brilliant, prosperous and Happy New
Year! After several years of minimal or zero
growth in rental revenues, let 2014 see the start of
what is foreseen to be a recovery for the European
rental industry.
The third quarter ERA/
IRN
RentalTracker survey,
published in the previous issue of
International Rental
News
, showed a remarkable improvement in business
sentiment among European rental companies and
tended to confirm the ERA’s forecasts that growth
would accelerate this year and in 2015.
What the survey revealed though is that, while
the aggregated figures for Europe point to an
overall improvement in business sentiment, the
improvements were driven mostly by the UK, the
Nordic region and Germany, with sentiment in
Southern Europe, France and the Benelux countries
remaining more moderate.
This is one of the areas where the ERA has a
major role to play, giving to the European rental
companies tools and solutions to understand better
their business, and continuing to finance studies that
will support decision-making with full background
knowledge.
ERA is a unique voice for the transmission of
knowledge, allowing the most successful European
rental companies to share their experiences with
each other.
Now that these demanding years of crisis and
downturn seem to be coming to an end, it is also time
for the European rental business to face the future, to
assess the changes and to focus on how to turn them
to an advantage for our business.
The next edition of our Convention, which will be
taking place from 24 to 26 June 2014 in Amsterdam,
will help attendees to get a clearer picture of the
opportunities and challenges represented by the new
technologies and, in particular, by the increasing use
of the internet.
At the same time and as usual in our conventions, it
will also be the right time to give you an update on the
trends of our business, in Europe but also all over the
world, and on the activities of our Association. The
full programme of our convention will be available at
the end of January at
.
Our annual convention has over the years become
the not-to-miss meeting place for Europe’s equipment
rental industry. It gathers several hundred high level
leaders of rental companies from all over Europe,
representatives of national rental associations and
suppliers to our industry.
May I also remind you that our Convention will
take place this year alongside the third edition of
“Now that these demanding
years of crisis and downturn
seem to be coming to an
end, it is also time for the
European rental business to
face the future, to assess
the changes and to
focus on how to turn
them to an advantage
for our business.”
IRN JANUARY 2014
