De Lage Landen notes “business has improved”

08/03/2010

In a press release De Lage Landen has reported a net profit of $156 million, and growth in its credit portfolio to $34.2 billion, noting that business has improved in a difficult market. In a statement, CEO Ronald Slaats said, “It has been an exceptional year in which our business model has proven its worth. I am happy to see that our strategy to partner with our clients has paid off. We operated in a turbulent market in which some parties scaled down their operations and others competed on price to gain market share. Nevertheless, our operational result is pretty good compared to our competition, and in addition, we seized selected business opportunities by closing new partnerships, concluded some portfolio acquisitions, and expanded into the clean technology market.” Commenting on the company's business strategy, Slaats said, “Our long term business strategy is still valuable within the context of the crisis we envisioned. As a part of the Rabobank Group we always operate in a very customer-connected matter. Partnership is a part of all our endeavours. We always stayed away from differentiating solely on price, and the subsequent commoditization of our industry. “Sustainable success in our business requires a thorough understanding of our customers' business. It requires a strategy that is aimed at delivering added value all along the distribution chain of our customer. And last but not least, we have the right people to execute this strategy, people who are motivated to work with customers and who are eager to build a relationship instead of merely closing a deal. To me, that is what made our company stand out, and that's what we will continue to focus on.” In 2009 De Lage Landen continued to support Rabobank in its ‘Allfinanz’ ambition in the Dutch home market, as well as in its ambition to be the world’s leading food and agri bank. De Lage Landen’s business units, Healthcare, and Food & Agri, reported strong new business volumes., while vendor finance started operations in Chile and South Africa. Impairment charges increased across the board and affected the Transportation, and Construction & Industrial business units especially. During the year it expanded its car lease activities into Italy via an acquisition, and Athlon Car Lease can now service customers in nine European countries, and has a car fleet of 216,000 cars. Car lease-related results suffered from unfavorable conditions on the used car market. Toward the end of the year, however, this market started to pick up again. In the Dutch home market De Lage Landen offers consumer finance via both local Rabobanks and the direct-to-market consumer finance label, Freo. The Dutch consumer finance market grew modestly in 2009 and saw competitors withdrawing from the market, and regulatory bodies increasing their supervision of this industry. De Lage Landen managed to grow its share of this turbulent market, and reported an above-budget net profit. De Lage Landen believes that by expanding into the clean tech industry, and offering innovative financing solutions, it can differentiate itself in the market place, thereby creating significant business opportunities. In the Netherlands, for example, business is starting to pick up, and De Lage Landen has signed deals on energy-saving equipment, heat and cold storage, and co-generation. Athlon Car Lease has defined electric mobility as a very important development track and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Renault for the purchase of electric cars as of 2011. In the USA, a dedicated solar energy team has been formed to tap into the opportunities this market has to offer. Internally, De Lage Landen has established a Business Principles Committee to advise the Executive Board on Corporate Social responsibility and business ethics-related issues. In line with Rabobank’s target, the company has developed a global plan to reduce the CO2 footprint per full-time employee by 20 percent by 2014. Implementing the Athlon Car Lease Green Car Plan for employees in the Netherlands, and aiming to obtain Eco-Certifications for the offices in Eindhoven, The Netherlands (BREAAM); and Wayne, United States (LEED) are part of that plan as well. In its outlook, De Lage Landen said it expects the world economy to recover in 2010, although the recovery will be unevenly spread, and fragile.

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