New business volume among a sampling of companies that belong to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association fell an unprecedented 30.3 percent last year, says a newly released annual survey conducted by the association.

That drop-off compared with a 2.2 percent decline in 2008, the association says. Pre-tax income and net income, in dollar terms, plunged 55.7 percent and 54.4 percent, respectively, among the surveyed companies, it says. Declines in revenue and total head count were considerably smaller, though, at 13.8 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively.

For the first time in the past 10 years of the Survey of Equipment Finance Activity, as the annual study is called, weighted average return on equity was in the single digits at 5.2 percent, a decline from 11 percent in 2008. Return on assets declined by half, falling to 0.6 percent from 1.2 percent during the year-earlier period.

"Not surprisingly, industry performance data for 2009 mirrored the difficult conditions prevalent in the broader U.S. economy," says ELFA President Woody Sutton. "Fortunately, it appears the worst is behind us: More recent data collected during the past two quarters suggests a gradually improving U.S. economy extends to the equipment leasing and finance sector."

The association claims its survey is the broadest compendium of industry data, comprising a representative cross-section of equipment lease and loan origination by product, structure, and origination. The survey is intended to provide a baseline and benchmark for equipment-finance companies, it says. An even 100 reporting entities participated in this latest survey, down from 122 last year.

Independent equipment-finance companies had the largest decline in new business volume, at 46.3 percent, while new business volume for banks and captives declined by 26.1 percent and 20.9 percent, respectively. Captives are companies set up by a manufacturer or equipment dealer to finance the sale or lease of its own products to end users. Leasing and financing activities declined for all types of equipment, with construction equipment hit among the hardest.

The total number of lease applications submitted fell to 1.87 million from 1.96 million in 2008, and the percentage of applications approved declined to 66.9 percent from 72.5 percent, the association says.

Meanwhile, the total number of full-time equivalent employees declined an average 9.7 percent at independent equipment-finance companies, while bank and captive FTEs declined 5.3 percent and 3.8 percent respectively, it says.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP managed the survey for the association.

The survey encompassed companies that finance a broad range of types of equipment, including agriculture, aircraft, construction, computers, telecommunications, rolling stock, printing, medical, industrial, and trucks and trailers, among others.

The types of financing offered by the equipment-finance companies include tax-oriented finance leasing, short-term operating leases, leveraged leases, conditional sales agreements, off-balance sheet loans, and tax-exempt leasing.

The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association has 600 members and claims to be the primary trade group representing companies in the $518 billion equipment-finance sector, which includes financial-services companies and manufacturers engaged in financing capital goods.