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XtraBlatt issue 02-2016

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MENSCHEN INSIGHT Michael

MENSCHEN INSIGHT Michael Hüsing manages the agricultural division of Krone Finance. that fluctuates according to actual commitment to agriculture – or lack of it – on the part of the customers’ classical house banks. “The negative interest practice of the European Central Bank concerning banks and leasing societies leads to the situation where credit institutes increasingly reinvest money in the economic cycle, which also includes farming. However, at the moment, this collides with the present low price levels of agricultural products, mainly milk and grain, and leads to increasing credit risks with agricultural customers. Thus, it depends to what extent the savings banks, cooperative banks and other financers on the spot trust the individual case assessments of their advisers. If there’s lack of confidence, or if customers are already deeply in obligo, capital goods financiers then come into the game with their special sector-specific knowledge, for instance Krone Finance,” explains Michael Hüsing. CREDIT PREDOMINATES He highlights what this can mean through the example of leasing contracts. Hereby, it depends on estimating as realistically as possible the value-over-time of the machine in question, so that neither lessee nor leaser find themselves at a financial disadvantage by the end of the contract period. “Economically and fiscally, leasing can be a very interesting financing option. This applies especially now where, for instance, cash balances of individual customers may be heavily strained through building new barns. Traditionally, however, many farmers in fact value ownership of machinery quite highly. For this reason, leasing through Krone, with a good 5% of the total financing sum in Germany, represents, as before, a small proportion. However, for larger-scale agricultural businesses and farm contrac- tors leasing becomes increasingly more attractive,” reports Michael Hüsing. But it is irrelevant whether a customer should find himself at the upper limit of his creditworthiness and therefore has to experience a closer examination of the balance sheet, or is simply wondering whether leasing might make economic sense for him or not: up-to-date and complete cash balances with all key figures are always the basis for a positive financing decision. “Because of this, it is important that own farm business balance sheets are always quickly completed. This is because even figures showing middling farm performance are always better than absolutely none,” he advises. And with acknowledgement of the increasing indebtedness in total within agriculture, he concludes: “There is still no visible trend change in the low interest phase. Despite this, indebtedness should remain in relationship to farm business yield capacity. We in Krone certainly recognise machinery financing as an important factor in promoting production – but not at any price.” The proportion of end customer financing as demonstrated here with Krone Finance lies in Germany meantime at around 50%. 38

Röttenbach regional spares depot ALL NEW In spring 2016 the new Krone regional spares depot in Röttenbach (northern Bavaria) was officially opened. The facility features a hall covering around 1200 m2 and a good 3000 m2 of surfaced outside area and replaces the old depot in Roth, giving Krone plenty of space for holding ready all types of spare parts for its machinery. In principle, Röttenbach now offers customers a smaller version of the Krone central spares depot in Spelle – for a rapid, competent and also reliable spare parts supply over all northern Bavaria region and even further afield. Krone managing director Wolfgang Jung ticks off a number of good grounds for the new facility at Röttenbach: “Bavaria is an agricultural region where Krone has been very successfully established for decades. Dairying is an important tradition in this mainly grassland area with numerous milk production farms. And an important tradition with Krone is that we are there where our customers need us. Röttenbach, just as Roth was beforehand, is excellently placed geographically and with very good traffic connections.” Krone has invested over 600,000 euro in the new service support facility, a sum that also confirms, says Wolfgang Jung, just how seriously the company takes its service and spare part supply responsibilities. “We don’t see this aspect as simply our duty. On the contrary, for us it represents part of the Krone strategy and is representative of the responsibility we undertake in all our business areas.” Good service and rapid spare parts supply are extremely important. Krone creates the best conditions for this with its new regional spare parts depot in Röttenbach. CONTACT Maschinenfabrik Bernard KRONE GmbH & Co KG Zeppelinstrasse 10 91187 Röttenbach Tel.: +49 (0) 91 72 47 49 20 Fax: +49 (0) 91 72 47 49 22 0 Email: dietmar.peipp@krone.de 39