COG Financial Services' novated leasing buying spree hits FBT policy turbulence

A run of bolt-on acquisitions built COG Financial Services into a bigger, more diversified novated leasing player through late 2025, but the stock has since fallen sharply as electric vehicle FBT exemption changes and softer credit conditions weigh on sentiment.

30 Jun 2026 · 5 min read

COG Financial Services Ltd (ASX: COG), Australia's largest aggregator of finance brokers and equipment leasing businesses, spent the second half of 2025 building out its novated leasing platform through acquisition, only to see the share price fall sharply through 2026 as regulatory uncertainty over electric vehicle tax concessions and softer SME lending conditions weighed on sentiment. Sandon Capital detailed the first major move in September 2025, when COG's Paywise subsidiary acquired EasiFleet for $40 million, adding government contracts across Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Tasmania, Queensland and the ACT and positioning the business for upcoming NSW and Victorian government tenders.

COG has capacity for further acquisitions given the net cash position and headroom under its acquisition finance facility.

Sandon Capital, Monthly Report, September 2025

A second acquisition consolidates the novated leasing platform

COG followed with a second deal a month later, acquiring an additional 14.1% of Fleet Network for $23.9 million, representing an FY25 multiple of roughly 6.1 times and lifting its ownership to 92.4%. Naos Asset Management, tracking both transactions in its quarterly commentary, estimated the EasiFleet acquisition reflected a pre-tax multiple of around 5 times FY26 earnings post-synergies, and identified two strategic benefits: strengthening COG's East Coast presence to balance its historically West Coast-focused client base, and granting access to government panels that let COG offer novated leasing to public sector employees for the first time. Wilson Asset Management noted COG's FY2025 revenue from novated leasing was already up 22% on the prior year heading into the EasiFleet deal.

Momentum builds, then reverses

Through September 2025, the newsflow was almost uniformly positive. Glennon Small Companies reported the share price jumped 31.57% in the month, helped by insider buying from director John Dwyer and the stock's addition to the S&P/ASX Emerging Companies Index, which often attracts index-tracking fund flows. That momentum did not last. By January and February 2026, Glennon Small Companies reported the stock weakening as investor sentiment toward asset-finance and SME lending exposures softened amid concerns about credit quality and economic slowing, even as the company continued to execute on its diversified finance platform strategy.

FBT policy uncertainty becomes the central overhang

The most significant swing factor through mid-2026 has been government policy on electric vehicle tax concessions, given how central novated leasing has become to COG's growth strategy. Sandon Capital reported in May 2026 that COG received much-awaited certainty ahead of the FY27 Federal Budget, with the government announcing phased changes to the FBT exemption for eligible electric vehicles: the existing full exemption continues until 31 March 2027, before a 25% discount-only regime phases in for vehicles above $75,000 in value through to 2029, after which all eligible EVs receive a flat 25% discount. Glennon Small Companies noted in June 2026 that continued uncertainty over the final form and timing of the changes, combined with a more restrictive domestic interest-rate environment, kept weighing on the stock even as the company continued integrating its salary-packaging operations.

The key benefits of this acquisition are: it strengthens COG's East Coast presence, balancing its historically West Coast-focused client base, and grants access to government panels, enabling COG to offer novated leasing to public sector employees, a capability it previously lacked.

Naos Asset Management, Quarterly Report, September 2025

What managers are watching next

With the share price having fallen from a September 2025 peak near $2.39 to around $1.38 by June 2026, the key question for COG's fund managers is whether the now-clarified FBT policy settings stabilise demand in the salary-packaging and novated-leasing market enough to let the EasiFleet and Fleet Network acquisitions deliver on their expected synergies, or whether softer domestic credit conditions continue to overshadow the integration story.