continues
Fleet management and leasing company Leasedrive
VELO is up for sale – but commercial director Roddy
Graham told Motor Finance that the continuing
uncertainty in the financial markets had probably scuppered the
independent lessor’s chance of finding a suitable buyer in
2008.
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“Had you asked me a year ago what I expected, I would have
predicted that Leasedrive VELO would be sold during 2008, but the
credit crunch has most likely put paid to that,” Graham commented.
“We had several unsolicited [takeover] approaches during 2007, but
none of them were sufficiently attractive. The current climate
makes it harder to realise value through mergers and
acquisitions.”
As Leasedrive VELO’s owner, private equity firm Lyceum
Capital, unveiled a new £255m fund for UK-based service companies,
Graham said that the 2007 accounts for Leasedrive VELO were nearly
finalised and would be announced soon.
“We expect to make just under £5m profit on turnover of
around £58m,” Graham said, adding that the lessor had had an
“excellent” year.
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By GlobalDataOver 2007 the company’s attention was focused on integrating the
operations of Leasedrive and VELO, which merged in January of last
year, Graham said: “We’re thrilled with the progress of the
integration; we have managed to retain all our clients and even win
some new ones.”
Graham forecast that 2008 would be “a little slower” for
Leasedrive VELO, as the blue-chip companies which are its
predominant client base experienced further troubles related to the
restricted movement of capital in world markets. “We have not
experienced any problems yet but there might at some point be
problems – although we are bullish about our prospects in the
coming year,” Graham added, noting that Leasedrive VELO’s fleet
management and rental management businesses were also continuing to
do “very, very well”. He concluded: “We’ve had a very good start to
’08.”
