Member Article

Speedy Hire face challenging year to make pre-tax profit of £2.1m

Following trouble with the Middle East part of its businesses Speedy Hire has faced its challenges to emerge with a pre-tax profit of £2.1m.

The Newton-Le-Willows-based company has now fully exited from the Middle East ahead of its 2016 deadline and will now concentrate on its business in the UK.

Despite the challenging year the group has seen its revenues increase by 7.2% to £375m.

The tool hire company announced a refinancing deal of £180m in September 2014 which has given it the support of additional funding if required.

Speedy is now in a strong position to grow with a customer base of over 50,000, a 1,100-strong fleet and a network of 220 stores.

The company have said it will focus on growing its core hire revenue andn driving cost efficiencies.

Chairman, Jan Åstrand, said: “I am delighted to report on a year of significant progress at Speedy. It is particularly pleasing that, despite all the challenges the Company has had to face, we have today reported a strong set of results.

“In the Middle East, having completed the exit from general and spot hire ahead of schedule, discussions are underway regarding the disposal of the oil and gas services operations, our last remaining asset in the region.

“We can now turn our focus to developing the business in the UK where there are major opportunities ahead through further professionalising our sales and marketing activity supported by improvements in cost management and asset utilisation.

“We are, once again, in a position to deliver sustainable profit growth and our confidence for the future is underpinned by an increase in the recommended final dividend.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .