Member Article

Plant hire group's trading remains flat

Revenues have remained flat for Merseyside tool and equipment rental group Speedy Hire due to what it describes as “challenging UK market conditions”.

In a trading update for the six month period ending September 30, the group describes its performance as “satisfactory” with trading in line with management expectations.

It said while first half revenues decreased 0.1 per cent against the same period last year, second half revenues saw improved trading with revenue increasing by 0.4 per cent.

In the UK and Ireland, revenue in the first quarter fell by 2.6 per cent, while the second quarter decreased by 1.6 per cent, driven by new non-construction related contract wins and the full mobilisation of its National Grid project, accounting for £10.7m across the infrastructure and industrial sectors, mitigating the overall fall for the half year to 2.1 per cent.

Speedy Hire is based at Newton le Willows. The group’s statement said: “Whilst we are yet to see any material improvement in construction work, the UK and Ireland division continues to navigate through the economic challenges by focusing on active hire markets, service revenue streams, an increasing proportion of non-construction related activities and progressing with the depot network and logistics strategy.”

It said the international division has made good progress with first half revenues up 28.5 per cent against the same period last year.

During the first half Speedy Hire also established a presence in Qatar to work with its teams in the Middle East and North Africa regions to capitalise on opportunities in both the oil and gas sector and government-backed infrastructure initiatives across the region.

Steve Corcoran, chief executive said: “Whilst the UK market, particularly in construction, remains challenging, our strategy to diversify the Group’s revenues to secure both hire and service agreements from companies in non-construction related activities and internationally in the MENA region is generating results.

“With an improving trend in the UK and Ireland in Q2 and a strong H1 performance in the International division, the group continues to trade in line with the board’s expectations and remains well positioned to benefit from the future UK recovery supported by a conservative balance sheet.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .