LeasePlan profits down but global fleet grows by 4.4%

LeasePlan increased its global serviced fleet by 4.4% in 2018, while its net result was down for the full year.

In its latest financial statement, the leasing company reported a 9.2% decline in profits for the full year.

The net result stood at €424m (£371.3m).

Its serviced fleet stands at 1.82m vehicles, a 4.4% growth from 2017.

LeasePlan says demand for its Car-as-a-Service (CaaS) offering has driven the increase in fleet size.

The last quarter of 2018 was more successful for the business, with like-for-like profits up 12.9% to €71m (£11.3m).

CarNext.com, LeasePlan’s pan-European marketplace for used cars, which launched just over a year ago, saw B2C volumes rise 55% to 13,775 vehicles in Q4 and 65% for the full year to approximately 50,000 vehicles.

Tex Gunning, CEO of LeasePlan, said “Our core Car-as-a-Service business for new cars continued its strong performance in 2018, supported by the positive impact of our ‘Power of One LeasePlan’ operational excellence program, which has now been fully embedded in the organization. In addition, we have continued to strengthen our offering of innovative, sustainable products and services. This includes our full package EV solution – which now has been rolled out in 10 countries.

“Looking ahead, our leadership position across both of our businesses will be enhanced by our commitment to offering what’s next in sustainable mobility services and our Digital LeasePlan program, which we began to implement across the company in 2018. Digital LeasePlan will enable us to provide a best-in-class digital service to our customers at lower cost levels, and ultimately enable us to deliver ‘any car, anytime, anywhere’.”