Listed tool rental business recovering from lockdown slump
Tool rental group Vp says its revenues were running at just 55% of normal levels during lockdown in April.
The Harrogate-based business will hold its Annual General Meeting by webinar at 10am today. And it has released the statement which chairman Jeremy Pilkington will deliver at the AGM.
He says in response to the lockdown, the company was forced to mothball a number of its locations, furlough employees and initiate a range of other cost saving measures.
But Pilkington notes the situation is now improving, adding: “I am very pleased to report that revenues are now running at over 80% of prior year levels driven by increased demand from our core end markets.
“As demand has returned, over two thirds of furloughed employees have now returned to work and many of the mothballed locations have re-opened. We expect this trend to continue over the coming months.
“Activity in infrastructure, house building and construction markets is positive and improving, but some areas such as the civil engineering sector have been slower to recover.
“Cost management has been excellent and debt has reduced by £22m since 31 March 2020, to £138m at the end of June 2020.
“Whilst many challenges remain, we are positive about the longer term outlook for the business and we look forward to returning towards historic levels of trading during 2021.”
