CHG-MERIDIAN: Europe-wide growth on solid foundations

Assisted by the economic recovery in Europe, the CHG-MERIDIAN Group has continued to deliver a robust performance in 2007, strengthening the growth it achieved last year. In the first half of 2007 it originated leases worth €296 million, a year-on-year growth rate of 5 per cent. The lease origination figure represents the total volume of newly acquired leased assets at cost.

The main driver of the CHG-MERIDIAN Group's encouraging performance was the strong growth of its subsidiaries outside Germany. The subsidiaries in France, Spain, Belgium and Italy achieved aboveaverage growth in lease origination. The proportion of total lease origination generated by the foreign subsidiaries rose further to 38 per cent, compared with 35 per cent in the first half of 2006. "The figures prove", stressed Jürgen Mossakowski, chairman of the company's Management Board, "that we are on the right track with our strategies and our extensive portfolio of services. Now that we have successfully completed our first leasing deals in Slovakia and signed master financing agreements in the Czech Republic and Poland, CHG-MERIDIAN has also made major inroads into the eastern European leasing market".

 
In recognition of the company's ongoing expansion and its broader portfolio of businesses, two further directors - Joachim Schulz and Dirk Stobbe - joined the Management Board on 1 January 2007. Schulz was previously the company's commercial director, while Stobbe ran the sales office in Düsseldorf and was in charge of building up its Hamburg branch. The total number of people working for the CHG-MERIDIAN Group rose to 446, an increase of 13 per cent on the first half of 2006.

About the CHG-MERIDIAN Group
The CHG-MERIDIAN Group is one of Europe's leading providers of full-service IT leasing. Established in 1979, it offers its clients a fully comprehensive IT infrastructure service – from the planning and finance stages via the procurement process and installation to the collection and remarketing of equipment at the company's dedicated logistics and brokerage centre. The independence and in-depth expertise of CHG-MERIDIAN's staff ensure that each client receives the best possible customised service.