ASX-listed FleetPartners also revealed on Monday that the order rate for electric vehicles from corporates and small business operators is running at about 10 per cent of its total, well behind New Zealand, where about 50 per cent of new vehicle orders are for electric vehicles or hybrid electric models.
he former Eclipx confessed a strategic party is eyeing a minority stake in the business.
Chief executive Damien Berrell said the lack of an electric ute on the market was a substantial barrier to EV uptake in Australia, because about half of vehicles under lease by group’s corporate customers were utes.
“It’s tools of the trade. They’re technical vehicles with equipment in the back,” he said. “The biggest challenge at the moment is those fit-for-purpose vehicles”.
FleetPartners said wait times for popular electric vehicle models such as Tesla and BYD were between one to two months for people who wanted to purchase via a novated lease. That was much shorter than popular traditional SUV models such as a Kia Sportage, where people were waiting six months, a Mazda CX-5 at three to four months, and a Toyota RAV4 at 18 to 24 months.
On Monday FleetPartners also signalled that an unnamed “strategic party” was considering buying a “significant minority equity stake” in the business. Mr Berrell declined to say who it was and there was no guarantee the unnamed party would proceed.
There has been long-term speculation across the industry about the potential for consolidation. The company disclosed the possibility of the strategic buyer making its move because FleetPartners is about to embark on a $43 million share buyback.
The company has about 91,000 vehicles on its books of all types across its three main brands, FleetPlus, FleetPartners and FleetChoice.
On Monday FleetPartners said net profit after tax was down 31 per cent to $42.6 million for the six months to March 31. Delays in being able to fill orders for new vehicles meant people were holding on to vehicles under lease for longer, because there was no replacement option coming. FleetPartners said the number of end-of-lease vehicles sold was down 20 per cent.
Revenue was down 6 per cent to $327 million.
Mr Berrell said FleetPartners would be a net beneficiary of the transition to electric vehicles as more companies were looking to outsource the management of their vehicle fleets because of extra complexities around charging and maintaining them.
In the fast-changing commercial landscape a robust secondary market is yet to be established as more new models arrive.
“It will certainly increase the outsourcing,” he said.
