16th Jun 2015 06:49
LONDON (Alliance News) - Industrial equipment rental company Ashtead Group PLC Tuesday reported strong growth in profit and revenue for its recently-ended financial year as it reported growth in both the UK and US, hiked its dividend, and gave a positive outlook.
The company reported a pretax profit of GBP473.8 million for the year to April 30, up from GBP365.5 million a year earlier, as revenue grew to GBP2.04 billion from GBP1.63 billion. Its pretax profit in the fourth quarter of the financial year rose to GBP104.7 million, from GBP70.8 million, as revenue increased to GBP538.7 million, from GBP384.9 million.
It said it will pay a final dividend of 12.25 pence, meaning a total of 15.25p for the whole year, up by a third from 11.5p a year earlier.
"Our markets continue to provide both structural and cyclical opportunity. The business model established over recent years has a track record of exploiting these opportunities and we are supported by a strong balance sheet. Therefore the board looks forward to the medium term with confidence," it said.
Ashtead invested GBP1 billion in its rental fleet during the year and spent GBP236 million on bolt-on acquisitions, and it expects to invest about GBP1 billion in capital expenditure again in the current year as well as continuing to open greenfield locations and make bolt-on acquisitions to further broaden its market exposure.
Annual revenue in its US sunbelt business rose to GBP1.72 billion, from GBP1.37 billion, and earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation rose to GBP809.2 million, from GBP616.5 million as its Ebitda margin also increased to 47.2% from 45.1%.
Its UK A-Plant business reported revenue of GBP323.0 million, up from GBP268.5 million, and Ebitda of GBP109.5 million, up from GBP78.6 million. The Ebitda margin in this business rose to 33.9% from 29.3%.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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