CHG-MERIDIAN generates double-digit growth

The CHG-MERIDIAN Group closed the first nine months of 2007 with an impressive growth spurt. At the end of the third quarter, this pan-European provider of financial solutions and services in the field of information and communications technologies had originated leases  worth €457 million. This was a year-on-year increase of roughly 11 per cent in its volume of newly leased assets (lease originations). The figures were announced on Friday by Jürgen Mossakowski, the company's CEO.

Two-thirds of these lease originations were generated by the German parent company and one-third was attributable to its 13 subsidiaries in other European countries. In eastern Europe - where CHG-MERIDIAN is represented in the market by subsidiaries in Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia - it more than doubled its volume of lease originations year on year. Its Spanish subsidiary generated the strongest growth among its western European subsidiaries, increasing its lease originations by some 70 per cent.

Mossakowski was visibly delighted at the significant growth generated in the United Kingdom and Italy, where both local subsidiaries had achieved growth rates of around 50 per cent in what had been challenging market conditions. He stressed that cut-throat competition had been raging for some time in the UK IT leasing market in particular, which is one of the most important in Europe.

Mossakowski believes that CHG-MERIDIAN's results for the first nine months provide 'unambiguous confirmation' of its strategic realignment in its efforts to become a full-service provider of IT leasing. The company has recently added an extensive portfolio of IT services to its product range, including hardware procurement and installation services and even the relocation of entire IT environments. At the same time CHG-MERIDIAN is in the process of expanding its Health Care business, which involves leasing medical equipment.