At the start of this year, when we listed the top 25 leasing firms judged on figures from the end of 2008, the merger of Lex and Autolease, while announced, hadn’t taken place. The result was that Lex still sat at the top of the ranking.

Now, the two firms have merged, or at least have a single name over the door – Lex Autolease. It’s not surprising this firm is still at the top of the chart, but what is an eye-opener is the level of loss suffered through the merger.

Going on 2008 figures, if there had been no loss during the merger the new Lex Autolease brand would be operating a fleet of more than 400,000 vehicles. However, the merger has seen a 16% loss to give a risk-exposed fleet size of more than 337,000 vehicles.

At first glance this looks high, but if compared with the average loss in fleet size for the top 20, which sits at 10%, it no longer looks worrying and marries with Lex Autolease managing director Nigel Stead’s expectations.

Speaking exclusively to BusinessCar at the start of the year about the outlook for the merger, he said his priority was to keep customers happy during it.

“With any integration there is a risk of a small loss. It’s vital to maintain our relations with our customers. We will do everything to maintain customer focus and both management teams are determined not to lose that focus.”

 

 

 

BC50 listing 2009, 50-26
Position Company Risk 2009 Risk 2008
50 ABC Vehicle Contracts 800* **
49 Equalease 900* **
48 Concept Vehicle Leasing 1200* **
47 Gilder Vehicle Leasing 1300* **
46 PVH Flexihire 1400* **
45 Lookers Leasing 1500* **
44 Fulton Leasing 1501 **
43 Duncton 2500* **
42 Alternative Route 2500* **
41 Sandicliffe Motor Contracts 3000* **
40 Translinc 3100* **
39 Fiat Auto Contracts 3600* **
38 Apex Easy Fleet 4000* **
37 Motiva Vehicle Contracts 4000 **
36 MNH Platinum 4100* **
35 TCH leasing 4500 **
34 Marshall Leasing 5400* **
33 JCT600 5489 **
32 Fleet Hire 6100 **
31 Tusker 6400* **
30 Toyota Financial Services 6,500 **
29 BMW Financial Services 8,400 12,280*
28 Fleet Alliance 8,500 **
27 Grosvenor Contracts 8600* **
26 Ogilvie Fleet 9,000 **
* estimated, ** not collected last year

 

BC50 CONTINUES…