Conducted in December 2013, the research shows a significant improvement from the previous survey conducted in June 2013.

The outlook for new business volumes over the coming six months is particularly positive, with 74% of those surveyed expecting new business volumes to increase, while just 10% anticipate a decline.

Expectations on the level of bad debt have also improved on the previous survey with the majority of participants (59%) forecasting that bad debt will remain unchanged over the coming 6 months.

Similarly, 54% expect no change in margins, although 29% now predict that margins will decrease in their organisations, up from 23% in the previous survey.

The results also show over 60% of survey respondents forecast that net profits for their business will increase over the same period, an improvement from the 55% recorded last June.

Industry expectations on a number of key indicators covering service levels, expenditure and staffing also indicate improvements for the first half of 2014, and nearly half of respondents (49%) said that their organisations are targeting expansion. Growth was focused on asset classes such as vehicles as well as geographic expansion within and outside of Europe.

Invigors EMEA Partner Richard Ryan said: ‘Business sentiment in the European asset finance industry is markedly more positive as the outlook for growth in many European economies continues to improve. Over 60% of respondents in the December survey are more optimistic about the prospects for their business in 2014, up from just 36% the previous June. A further 25% felt that these were unchanged, while only 13% thought that their business prospects would worsen.’