6th Oct 2025 09:14
(Alliance News) - Speedy Hire PLC and HSS Hire Group PLC on Monday announced an agreement that will see Speedy Hire provide services to, and invest in, HSS Hire, which will rename itself ProService Building Services Marketplace PLC as a result.
HSS Hire also on Monday published its delayed annual results, reporting a swing to loss due to a large impairment to the business that now will be outsourced to Speedy Hire.
HSS Hire said that ProService, its digital marketplace for customer and supplier acquisition, has entered a five-year supply agreement with Speedy Hire under which Speedy will replace HSS Service Group Ltd as the principal equipment supplier to ProService. Similar to Speedy Hire, HSS Service is HSS Hire's UK equipment hire business.
As part of the agreement, Speedy will pay GBP35 million, funded through existing resources, and HSS Hire will issue 79.4 million shares to Speedy, giving it just under a 10% stake in the renamed ProService PLC company.
Speedy said it expects the commercial agreement to be "significantly accretive to earnings and group operating margin in the first full financial year". It said it expects a "full payback of the consideration from operating cash flow in two to three years excluding any potential cash return from its interest in ProService PLC".
For its part, HSS Hire will use the investment from Speedy to fund the disposal of HSS Service to Project Mansell Newco Ltd, a newly formed company indirectly owned by investment funds managed by Endless LLP. As part of that agreement, HSS Hire will pay the buyer a total of GBP26.0 million to take on the liabilities of the loss-making operation.
HSS Hire said the remaining business would have generated underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of GBP8.5 million on GBP266.1 million in the 12 months that ended March 31 this year.
Reporting its full group results for the 15 months that ended March 31, HSS Hire said it swung to a GBP130.3 million pretax loss from a GBP6.9 million profit in the 12 months that ended December 30, 2023. Revenue was GBP379.0 million, compared to GBP312.4 million.
HSS said the pretax loss included a GBP113.5 million impairment charge for the HSS Service business. Underlying Ebitda for the group was GBP38.8 million, down 27% from GBP52.9 million in the previous period.
HSS said that while an interim dividend of 0.187 pence per share was paid back in November last year, it has decided to pay no final dividend in order to prioritise allocation of capital to the ongoing business.
"HSS has delivered strong strategic progress during the period in reshaping the group by successfully separating ProService and THSC," Chair Alan Peterson said. "Despite having to bear the considerable burden of increased taxation that came into effect in April 2025, following the split of the two businesses we are well placed to focus on ProService's strategic priorities."
With the company's publication of its financial 2025 results, HSS Hire shares resumed trading and jumped 51% to 10.50 pence early Monday in London. Speedy Hire shares were up 14% to 27.45p.
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
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