6th Sep 2022 08:33
(Alliance News) - Ashtead Group PLC on Tuesday said it made a strong start to the new financial year, saying the business has "clear momentum", though it said its interest costs are rising.
For the three months that ended on July 31, the London-based industrial equipment rental company said pretax profit rose by 27% to USD527 million from USD416 million a year earlier, with revenue up 22% to USD2.26 billion from USD1.85 billion.
In the US, rental-only revenue amounted to USD1.39 billion, up 26% from USD1.10 billion a year earlier, representing "continued market outperformance and demonstrating the benefits of our strategy of growing our specialty businesses and broadening our end markets", Ashtead explained.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by 22% to USD1.04 billion from USD860 million a year earlier, as operating profit rose by 26% to USD594 million from GBP477 million.
Chief Executive Brendan Horgan said: "The business is performing strongly, with revenue and operating profit ahead of our previous expectations. This performance is offset by increasing interest costs and therefore, we expect adjusted profit before taxation for the year to be in line with our previous expectations and the board looks to the future with confidence."
Looking ahead, Ashtead said it has "clear momentum in supportive end markets".
Shares were down 2.1% at 4,223.00 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.
By Xindi Wei; [email protected]
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