Financial Services segment

The Financial Services (FS) segment is the central financing partner for end-customer leasing and short-term rental fleet financing for the LMH and STILL brand segments. In the year to date, it has benefited from steadily growing internal and external demand for financing solutions. Revenue in the long-term leasing business with external end customers advanced to €313.5 million (Q1 – Q3 2015: €292.8 million). Total revenue including the short-term rental business, which is managed by the LMH and STILL brand segments, amounted to €543.9 million (Q1 – Q3 2015: €522.3 million). At €3.9 million, earnings before tax was at the level of the prior-year period (Q1 – Q3 2015: €4.0 million). The return on equity (ROE) was 12.8 per cent (Q1 – Q3 2015: 13.2 per cent).

There was further growth in the assets of the FS segment, which reached €1,725.4 million at the end of the third quarter (31 December 2015: €1,603.4 million). They were also significantly higher than they had been a year earlier (30 September 2015: €1,510.4 million).

As at 30 September 2016, the FS segment had intra-group lease receivables of €573.6 million from the LMH and STILL brand segments relating to the intra-group financing of the short-term rental fleet (31 December 2015: €549.2 million; 30 September 2015: €520.4 million). The funding of intra-group long-term leases (finance leases) with LMH and STILL resulted in lease liabilities of €415.3 million (31 December 2015: €400.6 million; 30 September 2015: €375.0 million). Net financial debt amounted to €206.9 million at the end of September (31 December 2015: €185.6 million; 30 September 2015: €167.1 million). > TABLE 10