Repo Trends Vary By Industry, Business Quarter

ROSLYN HEIGHTS, N.Y., Oct. 21, 2004 -- Nassau Asset Management's NasTrac Quarterly Index (NQI) indicates that repossessions of tractor-trailer trucks declined 70 percent in the third quarter (Q3) compared with the same time frame in 2003 -- welcome news for lenders and truckers following an upswing in repos mid-year.

"This summer truck repossessions climbed 33 percent between first and second quarter, when truckers were battling rising fuel and insurance costs," says Edward Castagna, senior executive vice president of Nassau. "What we saw in Q3 was in line with the overall decline in equipment repossessions that began in 2003."

Repossessions of machine tools dropped 72 percent. This finding correlates with other indicators within the manufacturing industry. In August, U.S. machine tool consumption to date in 2004 was up 38.4 percent compared with 2003, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors Association.

Repossessions of medical devices declined by 15 percent, a nominal change. However, other sectors experienced significant fluctuations:

  *  Repossessions of printing presses were up 88 percent compared with Q3
     2003, plus have risen consistently over all three quarters of 2004.
     Castagna says this trend may be partly due to consolidation within the
     industry, as noted in the National Association for Printing
     Leadership's November 2003 report, "Economic Recovery No Cure-All."

  *  Repossessions of construction equipment increased 57 percent compared
     with Q3 2003.  Castagna says this is the first time in 2004 that
     construction repos have risen compared with 2003. When comparing each
     of the three quarters to date in 2004, in fact, construction repos have
     actually declined or flattened.  Other economic indicators show that
     construction spending in 2004 as of August was up 9.4 percent over
     2003, according to the U.S. Commerce Department's Census Bureau.
     Nassau is watching the sector closely to determine if the Q3 increase
     was due to greater front-end volume or an early indication that
     construction businesses are responding to economic pressure.

Nassau tracks many other equipment types as part of its nationwide remarketing operation, which liquidates all types of assets. Companies can contract with Nassau to dig deeper into the numbers, determining the root causes for trends and researching specific equipment. For more information, visit http://www.nasset.com/ or call 1-800-4.NASSAU.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041021/DCTH006
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com