To our Stockholders, Customers & Friends:
2008 was a very rewarding year for the Varilease
companies. Despite the very challenging economic
climate we were successful in meeting.
. . and exceeding
our 2008 business plan. I would like to share a few
highlights with you:
- Total company lease originations grew to $191,000,000.00:
a 22% increase over 2007.
- Consolidated pre-tax income increased by nearly
100% over the prior year.
- Three of our four business units BancLeasing
(Dallas), Small Ticket (Portland), Varilease Finance
(Salt Lake) had their best year in our history.
. . both
in terms of new lease originations and profitability.
- Varilease was once again honored by Monitor
Magazine and ranked in the largest 100 leasing
companies in the United States.
- Separately, last year we were also ranked 9th
nationally in terms of privately held leasing companies.
- The company entered into a new $200,000,000.00
credit facility which ensures us significant funding
capability for our new lease originations.
Moving forward to 2009. . .
2009 promises to be the most difficult financial
market for the US economy since Varilease was founded
in 1987. We have given a lot of thought to our
market approach for the coming year. While the
US overall business volume is off considerably,
we see new and increased opportunity that wasn't
available to us in past years. Traditionally, one
of our largest competitors has been the larger
domestic banks. With bank liquidity continuing
to be severely constrained for 2009, we now are
seeing attractive opportunities made available
to us as a result of the major bank funding collapse.
Competitive bank funding constraints will continue
until these financial institutions have resolved
their past ill-advised mortgage investment issues.
. . which will certainly take some time. Additionally, certain
of the very large finance companies have either
exited the market or significantly retrenched activity.
. . providing
us yet additional opportunities.
Our approach to the current market will be a continuation
of conservative credit practices coupled with our
healthy liquidity which enables us to structure sensible
transactions for both our company and our customers.
Thank you for your continued support. I will keep
you informed.
- Robert VanHellemont, CEO
|
