(Source: Business Wire)
CIT
Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT), a leading provider of financing to small
businesses and middle market companies, today released another edition
of "5 Minute Capital" (www.5minutecapital.com),
its award-winning series of 5-minute podcasts featuring senior CIT
executives commenting on current market conditions and trends in the
middle market.
Burt
Feinberg, Group Head of CIT Retail Finance, provides his perspective
on the new study, "U.S.
Small and Middle Market Outlook 2009: Retailers and Suppliers Take Stock
of Economic Downturn," which was recently released by CIT and
Forbes
Insights. In this installment, he provides his perspective on how
retailers are responding to the recession and planning for the recovery.
He comments, "Retailers are keeping their inventories low. A lot of
retailers have stopped or temporarily stopped some growth plans. They're
focused on operations, using technology to track their inventories and
creating less SKU's. They are really trying to streamline their
businesses to maintain good levels of cash flow during this recessionary
environment."
In discussing some of the upside retailers have encountered as a result
of the current market, Feinberg adds, "This has been a great opportunity
for retailers to go back to their landlords. Because of all the
bankruptcies of retailers there is a lot of vacant space. There are
leases that relate to whether anchor tenants exist in malls and similar
types of provisions that enable retailers to renegotiate leases. As a
result, real estate has been an area where retailers can achieve some
cost reductions in this recession."
Middle market companies, a key component of the U.S. economy, account
for more than $6 trillion in sales and employ almost 32 million
Americans. U.S. small businesses employ nearly 59 million Americans
(approximately half of all private-sector jobs), constitute
approximately 97% of all identified exporters, and produce approximately
29% of the known export value.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Complimentary copies of the report are available
for download at http://middlemarket.cit.com.
Individuals interested in receiving future updates on CIT via e-mail can
register at http://newsalerts.cit.com.
About the Report
The information in the U.S.
Small and Middle Market Outlook 2009: Retailers and Suppliers Take Stock
of Economic Downturn is based on the results of two surveys and a
series of one-on-one interviews conducted by Forbes Insights in July and
August 2009.
The first survey questioned 110 executives and financial decision makers
at middle market retailers.
