17th Jun 2025 08:48
(Alliance News) - Ashtead Group PLC on Tuesday reported a sluggish end to the financial year with profit and sales falling in the fourth quarter.
In response, shares in the London-based industrial equipment hire company fell 1.3% to 4,324.00 pence each on Tuesday morning.
Pretax profit fell 6.0% to USD392 million in the three months to April 30 from USD417 million a year prior.
Revenue dropped 3.8% to USD2.53 billion in the quarter from USD2.63 billion, although rental revenue rose 0.9% to USD2.33 billion from USD2.31 billion.
For the financial year to April 30, pretax profit fell 5.2% to USD2.00 billion from USD2.11 billion the year before.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 2.7% to USD5.02 billion for the full-year from USD4.89 billion.
Annual revenue decreased 0.6% to USD10.79 billion from USD10.86 billion, with rental revenue up 3.6% to a record USD9.98 billion from USD9.63 billion.
The drop in annual revenue reflected lower sales of used equipment in the US, which fell to USD338 million from USD720 million.
Overall, North American General Tool total revenue, including new and used equipment, merchandise and consumable sales, fell 4.8% to USD6.40 billion from USD6.72 billion.
In the North American Specialty business, rental only revenue climbed 11% to USD2.38 billion from USD2.15 billion, driven by both volume and rate improvement.
The UK business generated rental only revenue of USD599 million, up 2.2% from USD586 million, a year prior.
Ashtead declared a final dividend of 72.0 US cents, down from 89.25 cents a year ago, making the total payout 2.9% higher at 108.0 cents compared to 105.0 cents.
Looking ahead, Ashtead said it is eyeing between 0% and 4% rental revenue growth for the current financial year, and USD2.0 billion to USD2.3 billion in free cash flow.
In the year to April 2025, Ashtead reported free cash flow of USD1.79 billion.
Plans to move its primary stock listing to the US remain on track for the first quarter of 2026.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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