Speedy warns of Olympics and Jubilee hit
SPEEDY Hire, the tools and equipment rental group, says trading in the first half its current financial year will be dented by the Olympics and the Queen’s Jubilee.
In a trading update ahead of its results for the year to the end of March, the Newton-le-Willows company said that while the board is confident of
making progress in the coming year, it is cautious on the outlook for the early part of the year.
It said: “We expect the first half of the year to be impacted by one-off events including: the Olympics and Paralympics, which will result in trading restrictions and disruption to construction projects in the London area for a two month period; and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, which will result in a reduction in trading days for the month of June, which is traditionally a holiday free period.”
Speedy said it expects to meet forecasts of pre-tax profits of £12.3m for the year to March 31, and that group debt had been slashed by 33% during the year.
Despite investing £19m more than last year on equipment, net debt
has been cut from £113.9m at March 31 2011 to approximately £76.3m.
The company said its underlying revenues in the fourth quarter to March 31 this year were up 4.5% against the prior year, resulting in a full year underlying revenue increase of 5%.
