CITY NEWS
HSS reported “an encouraging performance” in its half year results.
Testing times
Catherine Stratton considers recent progress made by HSS, Vp and Speedy in a challenging trading environment.
Markets tumbled in August as investors took fright at the increasing possibility of ‘double-dip’ recession. This rapid decline in confidence is in danger of being a self-fulfilling prophesy and will put weak economies under further pressure. The FTSE 100 Index saw its sharpest fall for over two years on 18 August, when it fell by over 4%, and the following day it dropped below the 5,000 benchmark. As we go to press, the London market is rallying a little, with the FTSE 100 back over 5,000 but confidence remains very fragile. Most forecasters seem to think that, while a double-dip recession is unlikely, the UK growth rate will be very subdued over the next year.
This is not an encouraging background for quoted hirers and their shares have taken a beating, although they are still well above their 12-month ‘lows’ as the table shows.
SHARE PRICES ON 25 AUGUST 2011 Company Aggreko Ashtead Speedy Vp
Andrews Sykes
to be completed by the end of this year. It has also launched HSS Outsource Cleaning. Chief Executive Chris Davies indicated that HSS had achieved growth in all the UK and Irish regions with “an encouraging performance” confirming the “strategy of customer- centric propositions in primarily the maintain and operate sector”.
Price (p) High (p) Low (p) Market Cap. (£m) 1,822 103.6 24.75 234.5 184
2,098 209.2 34.5 260
231.5
1,372 75.5
18.25 155 100
Progress reports from hire companies have, however, been largely encouraging. Although not a public company, HSS keeps the media closely in touch with its performance and has issued a statement on its half year results. At £89.5m, ‘like-for-like’ revenues were 9.2% up on the first six months of 2010, with EBITDA rising 10.4% to £19.5m. Other highlights include a new ‘logistic and maintenance programme’
4,680 500.3 124.1 102.4 78.6
Going back to the quoted companies, Vp has issued an interim management statement updating investors on progress since its annual results. The company said that the trend of “the generally upbeat finish to the previous financial year” had been sustained, with “the business delivering growth and capitalising on organic investment opportunities”. Vp singled out the house building and rail markets as experiencing “a good level of demand”, but described construction as “somewhat subdued but stable”, while infrastructure markets remained “solid”. Speedy was also able to tell shareholders at its AGM in July that its new financial year had begun “satisfactorily”, with overall performance in line with management expectations.
•
• Readers may recollect earlier this year the appointment of two women to senior directorships
(Ishbel Macpherson as chairman of Speedy, and Alison
Bainbridge as Finance Director of Vp). There appears to be a trend for women finance directors, with Lynn Krige, former Group Financial Controller of John Laing, to succeed Justin Read at Speedy, and Suzanne Wood, currently Chief Financial Officer of Ashtead’s US subsidiary, Sunbelt, replacing Ashtead’s long-serving Finance Director Ian Robson on his retirement in July 2012.
•
9
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44