SGEF provided financing totalling CZK 9.5 billion to Czech firms in its strategic segments, retaining its 18% market share and the #2 position in the target market of corporate investment financing. CZK 4.3 billion (up by 22% yoy) went to transport equipment and CZK 3.3 billion (up by 12%) to industrial equipment. The recovery in the construction industry is confirmed by the results in the segment of construction machinery with its CZK 876 million financing (+71%).
Significant demand for non-bank financing also came from small businesses. “In cooperation with Komerční banka, we financed investments worth almost CZK 1 billion, which was 66% more than in 2014,” explains Reinhold Knödl, CEO, Société Générale Equipment Finance in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, adding: “We were also successful in approaching new clients; we acquired 523 new clients last year and they contributed as much as one quarter to the total volume of our new deals.”
Preferences for various forms of non-bank financing differ from sector to sector. In the construction and transport industries, the traditional financial lease has remained the most popular form. Business loans were the clear-cut choice for farmers and engineering companies thanks to subsidy programmes. Operating lease is the dominant product in high-tech.