Car lease company Leaseplan says its earnings have come under pressure from the fall in the price of second hand cars, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Thursday.

The cost of financing last year’s loan from the Dutch government also added to the pressure. Leaseplan has a banking licence and was able to apply for state support from the Dutch government.
Leaseplan, headquartered in the Netherlands, is 50% owned by Volkswagen.
The company operates a fleet of almost 1.4 million cars in 30 countries. But the sale of older cars generated a loss of €39m last year, compared with net profit of €47m in 2007.
The group’s earnings from ordinary operations fell 14% to €208m last year.