A-Plant half year profits soar
A-PLANT, the Warrington-based equipment rental company, has reported strong half year figures as operating profits increased 142% to £17.4m.
The company, which has around 2,000 staff at more than 100 branches nationwide, said turnover in the half year to the end of October was up 33% to £138.2m.
A-Plant’s acquisition of Eve Trakway in May this year has delivered rental revenue of £124m, up 35% on the prior year (2012: £92m), reflecting 23% more fleet on rent and a 10% improvement in yield. Rental revenue growth excluding Eve was 16%, reflecting 10% more fleet on rent and 5% yield improvement.
Birchwood Park-based A-Plant is the UK operation of listed London-headquartered company Ashtead Group, which also owns Sunbelt Rentals, the second-larges tool and plant hire operator in the US.
Group revenue increased 25% to £850m in the first half (2012: £680m) with strong growth in both businesses. This revenue growth, combined with ongoing operational efficiency and lower financing costs generated a record underlying pre-tax profit of £212m, up 49% on the previous half year (2012: £140m).
Geoff Drabble, chief executive of Ashtead, said: “Activity on the ground and lead indicators remain very healthy and, as a result, we have increased our full year capital guidance to £700m to support our customers during an anticipated strong Spring of 2014.
“As a result, we now anticipate a full year profit towards the upper end of current expectations and the Board looks forward to the medium term with increasing confidence.”
