LOMBARD Vehicle Management (LVM) has signed a sale and leaseback deal with Scientifics, a testing and analysis business, for its van and car fleet.

The company previously ran its vehicles on an HP basis but from this month the 100-strong fleet, consisting of around 60 vans and 40 cars, will be fully maintained on contract hire by LVM. The 81 existing vehicles are being augmented by around 20 new vehicles to be delivered in the new year.

Scientifics is banked by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, LVM’s parent company, which identified an opportunity for Scientifics to operate its fleet more efficiently. LVM was brought in to provide the solution and is now the sole supplier.

'It was a big advantage to have this kind of specialist experience within our corporate bank’s group of companies,” said Scientifics' financial director Mike Jones.

'We gave LVM a tough challenge, as we required it to deliver a fleet solution that would be less expensive than our current operating costs, whilst taking over our fleet procurement and administration and providing the credit facility to expand the fleet to match the growth of the business. We signed-up because they delivered on all counts.'