2022 FN50 analysis: Turmoil in the UK leasing industry as 50 become 49

One exit and a refusal fail to dampen FN50 growth after strong year for vans is mirrored by growth in car fleet, reports Stephen Briers

There is no escaping the headlines: for the first time since expanding the FN40 to become the FN50 in 1998, we do not have 50 leasing companies on the list.

Executives have said for the past few years that there are too many leasing companies in the UK and consolidation was inevitable, with some putting a market saturation figure of around 30 companies; however, while there has been some consolidation year-on-year, with more likely in 2023, there are additional reasons for falling short of 50 this year – and it isn’t because the UK doesn’t have 50 leasing companies.

The absent

The biggest reason is the absence of Holman and Fraikin who, for different reasons, have declined to participate in the list this year.

Holman, the Fleet News leasing company of the year up to 20,000 vehicles no less, declined to supply its figures due to its “current growth journey”. It obviously supplied those figures as part of the Fleet News Awards entry, but they remain confidential.

However, it’s fair to say Holman would’ve made its mark on the FN50 in its first year, so we can only hope for a change of mind next year.

Finally, Fraikin, last year’s number 45, declined to enter because its priority is trucks, even though it returned a fleet size of 319 cars and 1,484 vans in 2021. The company views the FN50 as being car biased, despite the fact that the questionnaire includes trucks (in 2021, Fraikin funded 2,280 heavies, with only Zenith and Hitachi – now Novuna - reporting higher figures).

So, one leasing provider departs and one eschews the chance to enter.

Added to that is the merging of figures from Belfast-based Fleet Financial with its parent Lookers – which doubles Lookers’ funded fleet size, moving it up eight places to No24 – and the departure of Maxxia, which has been running off its leased fleet since August 2020 after taking the decision to move away from contract hire to focus on being a broker and asset finance originator for equipment.

New entrants

Entering the list for the first time are Ford Fleet Management and Leasing Plus.

Ford Fleet Management was launched at the end of 2020 as a joint venture between Ford and ALD – note its figures have not been included within ALD’s figures.

While it offers multi-marque funding, its fleet has a natural bias towards Ford while targeting a customer base of larger companies with more complex needs.

Speaking to Fleet News shortly after the launch, managing director John Wright said: “We don’t want to create just another leasing company or accept the way things have always been done – this business has to offer something different and the way to do that is to talk to our customers about their needs. We are adopting a start-up mentality, but as a well-funded company.”

Leasing Plus becomes the FN50’s smaller ever member, propping up the table with just 108 vehicles.

The Hertfordshire company was set up in 2018 and has plans to grow from its base in Hemel Hempstead, targeting cars and light commercials with a promise of offering flexible contracts with low admin charges.

Others new entrants could follow next year, including Octopus Electric Vehicles which is focusing on salary sacrifice, countering the view that consolidation will result in fewer lenders; it seems to simply create the space for newcomers.

FN50 countdown (video)

'Turmoil and commotion'

One exit we are expecting to see next year is LeasePlan, should ALD’s proposed acquisition go through as expected by January 2023.

The £4.1bn deal will create a new leasing superpower, not just in the UK but globally, to be named NewALD.

ALD has estimated the cost of integration to be in the region of £92 million, although the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into the merger, with its findings due to be published this month (November).

Bringing together the two funded fleets would result in a new market leader in the UK with more than 310,000 vehicles, comfortably knocking Lex Autolease off the top spot it has clung onto since it was formed from the merger of Lex Vehicle Leasing and Lloyds TSB Autolease in 2009.

So what affect has all the turmoil and commotion had on the size of the FN50? A reduction from 50 to 49 members should point towards a reduction in size, but that’s not the case. 

The total size of the FN50 has actually grown, by 47,237 units to 1,710,658 cars and vans – a rise of 2.8%.

After two years of decline, the car fleet has grown by 3.5% to 1,243,162 - a noteworthy performance given the recent publication of the 2020/21 benefit-in-kind taxation figures from HMRC which showed an 80,000-unit drop in company cars to 720,000.

With 60% fleets in a recent Fleet200 Strategy Network poll carried out by Fleet News predicting their fleet size would grow thanks to the influx of low BIK electric vehicles bringing cash takers back into the company scheme, it suggests a definite reversal in fortune for the much-maligned company car.

Add to this the latest driving licence statistics from Department for Transport, which show that 93% of 17-20 year olds without a current licence intend to learn to drive – unchanged from a decade earlier – and that 77% of the adult population has a valid licence – the second highest proportion ever, albeit after 2020’s 80%.

The unknown is whether they will want to drive their own cars (including company cars) or whether they will defer to subscription or pay-as-you-drive schemes.

Vans and trucks

The van sector also saw a rise in numbers, although not as dramatic as cars, edging up just 1% year-on-year, at 467,496.

And what of trucks? Despite Fraikin’s exit, the number of trucks funded by the UK’s biggest lenders has risen slightly, up 3.8% to 25,764.

Thirteen companies provided figures, one fewer than last year, with Zenith dominating with more than 60% of the volume at 16,134 vehicles.

'Huge double-digit growth'

On a like-for-like basis, 30 companies grew their car and van fleet size compared with 2021, while 15 shrank and two were unchanged.

Huge double-digit growth was enjoyed by 14 leasing companies, headed by 2021 new entrant Sogo Mobility whose near doubling of its funded fleet saw it rise nine places to No32 with 4,132 vehicles.

Three places lower, at No35, is Liquid Fleet which enjoyed a 34% rise thanks entirely to its car risk fleet.

Twelve of the top 15 biggest companies increased their fleet size year-on-year, with half of those in double digits.

Mobilize Financial Services (formerly RCI) moved up three places thanks to a 41% rise in its car fleet, the catalyst for a 35% overall increase, while Santander and Leasys both continued their rapid acceleration in recent years.

Santander is almost entirely a funder of cars; it has just 254 vans on its book of 53,798 vehicles.

Since 2020, it has nearly doubled its fleet size, and moves into the top 10 for the first time in tenth place.

Leasys has been one of the FN50 star performers for the past decade. In 2012, when the business was FGA Contracts, it was funding 2,422 vehicles and was the 42nd biggest company.

This year, it sits on 22,082, a rise of 20% year-on-year, in 15th.

Like Santander, Leasys is dominated by cars.

In addition to the funded fleet figures, FN50 companies also grew the number of vehicles under fleet management and accident management, as well as their rental fleets.

• Fleet management: cars 271,923 (up 9.4%), vans 90,544 (up 37%), trucks 39,967 (up 2.5%)
• Accident management: cars 191,901 (up 10.1%), vans 97,001 (up 4.1%), trucks 41,960 (up 255%)
• Rental: cars 266,200 (up 0.6%), vans 18,747 (up 13.7%), trucks 2,073 (down 9.3%)

The FN50 2020 - 2022

FN50 by numbers  

• Funded risk fleet (cars/vans): 1,710,658
• Managed fleet (cars/vans): 362,467
• Rental fleet (cars/vans): 284,947
• No of funded cars: 1,243,162
• No of funded vans: 467,496
• No of funded trucks: 25,764
• Biggest fleet: 274,107 (Lex Autolease)
• Smaller fleet: 108 (Leasing Plus)
• No of new entries: 2

The FN50 supplement.