Speedy hopes for recovery as losses widen
SPEEDY Hire said that the slow improvement being made in the UK’s construction sector is has begun to feed through to its revenues, despite declaring a pre-tax loss of £13.8m (2009: £13.6m loss) in the six months to September 30 on revenues which dropped 4.1% to £177.3m.
The Haydock-based company’s chairman, David Wallis, who is stepping down at the end of the year, said: “UK revenues, average hire rates and volume trends are now showing progressive improvement.”
The company argued that its core UK market had now enjoyed three consecutive quarters of growth, with average hire rates up 2.8%. It also said that recent contract wins with Thames Water, Balfour Beatty and an international contract with Costain would all feed through into revenues for the second half of the year. The Thames Water contract alone is expected to be worth £45m over a five-year period.
“Although market conditions remain challenging, with our strong balance sheet, market leading position and closer alignment with growth markets, the business continues to be well-placed both to benefit from the actions taken to reduce operating costs and to capitalise on market recovery,” said Mr Wallis.
The firm’s net assets reduced slightly during the period to £236.6m, from £246.6m at its March year end. Its net debt also increased slightly to £123m as opposed to £119.3m at the year end. The firm decided to maintain an interim dividend payment of 0.2p per share.
Chief executive, Steve Corcoran also thanked Mr Wallis for his service, having been on the board for 10 years, the majority as chairman.
He will be succeeded by senior independent director Ishbel Macpherson, who joined the board in 2007.
“I would like to take this opportunity to express the appreciation of all David’s colleagues throughout Speedy for the great contribution he has made over the past decade, not only in terms of his tremendous leadership, but also in his incredible capacity always to ensure that matters are undertaken with dignity and humanity,” said Mr Corcoran.
