19th Jun 2018 07:57
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 100-listed equipment rental company Ashtead Group PLC said on Tuesday it registered double digit growth in profit and revenue for its recently ended financial year through strong performances in each of its markets.
Underlying pretax profit for its year ended April 30 rose by 16% to GBP862.1 million from GBP765.1 million the year before due to strong performance in its Sunbelt business, both in the US and Canada. Taking out the impact of amortisation and exceptional items, pretax profit was up 21% to GBP927.3 million from GBP793.4 million.
This was on double digit revenue growth to GBP3.79 billion from GBP3.19 billion the prior year, as rental revenue rose by 20% to GBP3.41 billion from GBP2.90 billion.
Adjusted pretax profit fell slightly short of analyst consensus for its year of GBP934.7 million, however revenue emerged as the outperformer, beating the GBP3.67 billion forecast.
Ashtead has proposed a final dividend of 27.5 pence per share, giving a total payout of 33.0 pence, up 20% from 27.5p the year before.
"Our end markets remain strong and are supported by the continued structural changes in our market as customers rely increasingly on rental while we leverage the benefits of scale. We continue to execute well on our strategy through a combination of organic growth and bolt-on acquisitions, investing GBP1.2 billion by way of capital expenditure and GBP392 million on bolt-on acquisitions in the year," said Chief Executive Geoff Drabble.
"All our divisions continue to perform well in supportive end markets. Looking forward, we anticipate a similar level of capital expenditure in 2018/19 consistent with our strategic plan. So, with all divisions performing well and a strong balance sheet to support our plans, the board continues to look to the medium term with confidence," Drabble added.
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