Speedy Hire making steady progress
SPEEDY Hire is continuing to make “positive progress” and the tool and equipment specialist is confident of meeting expectations for the full year.
In a trading update ahead of next month’s interim results, Newton-le-Willows based Speedy said it had defied “challenging macro-economic conditions”to grow underlying revenues and profits in the second quarter.
Stripping out the impact of the end of a maintenance contract with Network Rail last December, and the sale in April of its accommodation hire business, underlying revenue is expected to be up around 4.1% against the same period in 2010, along with a “substantial increase in profitability”.
Speedy said revenues in its core UK & Ireland Asset Services division has risen 2.1% year-on-year in the second quarter as a result of market share gains.
With a focus on profitable business, Speedy said it had turned away unprofitable work meaning that while yields were up 5.5% and hire rates 7.8%, volumes were down 2.9%.
The group, which has 300 sites in the UK and Middles East, said prudent cash management had helped it cut net debt by £2.5m to £77m.
Despite some impact in the Middle East from the ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings, Speedy said progress had been made in its international division, with a significant increase in revenue and a substantial reduction in operating losses.
Looking ahead, the group said: “Speedy’s UK trading continues to improve steadily in line with expectations, although uncertainty remains in the overall outlook for the UK economy.
“The group draws confidence from the order books of its key major contractor customers, the breadth of its customer base and the diversity of its end markets.”
