The French credit-insurance company Euler &Hermes saw its turnover fall by 1.7 per cent like-for-like, to ?298million euros, in the first quarter of 2002. The insurer, which belongs to the Franco-German insurance group AGF-Allianz, attributes this drop in earnings mainly to a 21.9 per cent slump in its factoring activities.
EUROFACTOR, Euler & Hermes factoring subsidiary, realised turnover (commissions collected) of ?26.4 million at 31 March 2002. The downturn can be attributed both to financial commissions and to factoring commissions. This decrease in commission volume is the result of lower average interest rates since the end of March 2001. Also, since Autumn 2001, to meet increased debtor risk, EUROFACTOR has been commercially more prudent and selective. This has lead to a drop of the global level of purchased debts, and of the financing rate granted.
