17th Jun 2014 07:14
LONDON (Alliance News) - Equipment rental company Ashtead Group PLC Tuesday reported higher profit and revenue for the fourth quarter of its last financial year and for the year as a whole, as it invested in expanding its fleet for hire and in acquisitions.
The company reported a pretax profit of GBP70.8 million for the three months to April 30, up from GBP50.0 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP355.7 million, up from GBP306.8 million. For the year to end-April, pretax profit rose to GBP365.5 million, from GBP214,2 million, as revenue rose to GBP1.48 billion, from GBP1.21 billion.
It said it will pay a final dividend of 9.25 pence a share, up from the 6.0p final dividend it paid for fiscal 2013, meaning the total dividend for the year will rise to 11.5p, from 7.5p.
The company, which rents out construction and industrial equipment in the US and UK, said its strong performance had continued in May, and it is confident about its medium-term prospects.
Ashtead'ss performance reflects its investments in revamping its rental fleet and growing organically and through bolt-on acquisitions.
"Our performance reflects the benefits of the consistent execution of our strategy focussed largely on organic growth, supplemented by greenfield openings and bolt-on acquisitions. We invested GBP741 million in our rental fleet and a further GBP103 million on acquisitions during the year. We anticipate growing our fleet in the coming year in the low to mid teens percent range and will continue to open greenfields and make bolt-ons to further grow our market share and profitability," Chief Executive Geoff Drabble said in a statement.
The company said it expects to add another 50 locations in the current financial year, as it heads towards its medium-term target of 600 locations.
Its capital expenditure for the last financial year was GBP741 million gross and GBP642 million net of disposal proceeds, and this meant its rental fleet at the end of April at cost was GBP2.6 billion with an average age of 28 months, down from 32 months.
Its preliminary capital expenditure plan for the current year is for spend at a similar level to last year, which should result in percentage growth in our fleet in the low- to mid-teens, it said.
"As always, our capital expenditure plans remain flexible depending on market conditions and currently, our principal focus is on fleet deliveries through the first quarter of fiscal 2015," it said.
Ashtead shares were up 0.9% at 895 pence early Tuesday.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @SteveMcGrath1
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