Acquis, a leading European provider of insurance for the leasing and renting of equipment sector, has released its new market study on the business sentiment of SMEs in the equipment leasing industry titled “Opportunity for Change”. This research unveils an optimistic yet challenging business landscape for Spanish SMEs in 2024, with 84% of them planning to invest in new equipment or commercial assets in the next five years. This year, in its second consecutive report, Acquis has delved into the opportunities and challenges that will shape the business path of Spanish small and medium enterprises in the coming years, as well as their perceptions and plans regarding equipment leasing and renting.
“Diving into the research data, a generalized optimism is observed among Spanish SMEs, with 72% expressing confidence in the future of their businesses, representing a significant increase compared to 54% from the previous year. However, despite this optimism, financial and economic challenges persist, with inflation being the largest of them followed closely by concerns about labor availability,” explains Luis Targuettha, Business Development Manager at Acquis.
So far this year, companies have leased mobile and real estate assets totaling 3.456 billion euros, representing a 16.4% increase compared to the same period last year. This increase in leasing indicates a growing trend towards the use of leasing or rent with option to buy as a form of financing, along with the traditional use of cash or reinvestment of profits.
The main growth opportunities in the next 12 months continue to focus on cost and price optimization, digitalization/automation, and investment in technological innovation. However, a decrease in interest in ecological initiatives is observed, with a growing focus on technological development as a growth engine.
Like in 2023, cost and price optimization remain the biggest growth opportunity for SMEs (41%). They also see significant opportunities in digitalization/automation (37%) and investment in technological innovation (37%).
On the other hand, Spanish SME leaders identify some challenges in the next 12 months, which can be affirmed to be constant as they coincide with those highlighted a year ago in a study carried out by Acquis in 2023. All of them are related to financial problems on a local or global scale, with inflation being the biggest challenge (51%).
The “Opportunity for Change” report by Acquis underscores the growing importance that environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) policies have gained among Spanish SMEs. Green financing emerges as a crucial factor in equipment acquisition decisions, with the majority of survey respondents considering it to be extremely or very important. Although attention is shifting towards technology, there is still substantial interest in environmental initiatives.
Despite the decline observed in growth opportunities for sustainable products and services, SME decision-makers still perceive green financing as important when acquiring equipment, with seven out of ten (69%) considering this option to be extremely or very important, and almost a quarter (23%) extremely important.
In the words of Nick Leader, CEO of Acquis: “There are great opportunities in the leasing market for ESG-focused products and services, and these opportunities will only grow as environmental responsibility becomes a higher priority for consumers.”