HSS Hire gears up for float
HSS Hire, which has a major operational base employing 400 people in Manchester, plans to raise more than £100m in a stock market listing.
The group, currently majority owned by private equity firm Exponent, is looking to raise about £103m to cut its debt pile and to provide additional capital for growth.
Chief executive Chris Davies said: “Having built a well-differentiated market position and a scalable business model underpinned by capital efficiency, we have an exciting opportunity ahead of us as we implement our growth plans.
“A public listing will put the business on the best footing to maximise our potential as the recovery in our markets gains momentum, enabling us to scale our model faster and accelerate our growth.”
HSS operates from more than 265 locations, serviced by a delivery fleet of over 400 commercial vehicles and employs around 2,900 people through a hub and spoke distribution network comprising a national distribution centre, 10 regional distribution centres, 25 local distribution centres and 230 trading locations.
HSS hopes to begin trading on the London Stock Exchange next month.
It also announced the appointment of three non-executives, including Neil Sachdev, a former Sainsbury’s executive, who becomes deputy independent non-executive chairman.
Amanda Burton, a former chief operating officer at law firm Clifford Chance and Douglas Robertson, finance director at SIG the FTSE-250 insulation supplier, join as independent non-executive directors.
