CHG-MERIDIAN: further growth in the first half

In the first half of 2005 the CHG-MERIDIAN Group generated lease originations of €260 million, an increase of 6.2 per cent on the first half of last year. The lease originations figure comprises the total capital cost of newly acquired leased assets.

On the whole, the Group's international business reported very encouraging growth in the first half of the year. The French company Finexis S.A., which was acquired and merged with CHG-MERIDIAN Computer Finance France Sarl last year, started creating synergies, which has enabled the French subsidiary to close new deals. The recently established subsidiaries in Russia and Spain also generated their first business. CHG-MERIDIAN Computer Spain S.L. has been operating since April of this year, while the Russian subsidiary has been active since November 2004. The share of new business generated by the subsidiaries located outside Germany rose to 23.8 per cent from only 16.6 per cent in the first half of 2004.

Although the German parent company still accounts for the largest share of total lease originations, the volume it generated in the first half remained - as expected - roughly unchanged year on year. Jürgen Mossakowski, chairman of the Management Board of CHG-MERIDIAN Deutsche Computer Leasing AG, commented: "The generally weak economic growth in Germany in the first six months of the year impacted on the level of lease originations generated by our German parent company. However, this was compensated for by the strong performance of our international business. Given our current order book, we are confident that we will meet our targets for the second half of the year".

The total number of people working for the CHG-MERIDIAN Group rose by 21 per cent to 345 compared with the first half of 2004.

The company has subsidiaries in 14 locations throughout Europe. It has two offices in the UK, five in France, seven in Germany and also operates in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.

Established in 1979, CHG-MERIDIAN Deutsche Computer Leasing AG is one of Europe's leading independent leasing companies specialising in information technology. It offers a full range of services that include flexible financing, services solutions and the remarketing of second-user IT hardware.