Total assets rose to €20.1bn from € 19.5bn for FY 2012, while the leasing giant also reported a rise in the number of vehicles under management to 1.36 million from 1.35 million at year-end 2012.

Vahid Daemi, chairman and CEO LeasePlan Corporation, said: ‘The year in which we celebrate our 50th anniversary has started off well. Despite continued uncertainty in the market, LeasePlan produced strong results.’

The firm said the substantial increase in results was achieved despite the continuing effects of the economic crisis in many countries in which LeasePlan operates. This positive development is mainly caused by risk mitigation measures, further supported by modest improvements in certain European second-hand car markets for terminated lease vehicles.

The group added that the ground work for LeasePlan Russia’s start-up operations proceeded apace during 2013 and in July the doors to business were opened. The first half of the year also saw the acquisition of the Italian fleet and vehicle leasing activities of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, SA – adding some 20,000 vehicles to LeasePlan Italy’s portfolio. This acquisition allows further expansion into the Italian small and medium enterprise sector.

Commenting on the outlook for the second half of 2013, the group said: ‘General trends across competitive markets are leading to falling new car sales. Market growth is also very tight, absent in many local markets. The global recession, whilst showing some signs of stabilisation, has not yet ceased being a challenge and demand in many markets continues to be slow. Due to the decrease in new car sales, second-hand sales have improved. Termination results are also well ahead of plan. Furthermore, we continue to see improvement year-on-year in customer service indices.

‘We are clearly meeting our customers’ expectations. We are well organised and well funded. We also believe that opportunities for growth will increase in the future. Despite continuing uncertainties in global markets, we are cautiously optimistic that our business will maintain momentum over the next six months.’