TOOL HIRE TOP TEN 2012 continued
SPEEDY HIRE PLC Chief Executive
Head Office
Telephone Number Website
Hire activities
Geographical coverage Status
COMMENT
The past year has seen further rationalisation at Speedy with the disposal of its loss-making portable accommodation business for £34.9m in April and the announcement in November that the company was closing its Training & Advisory Services division. The Training side of that operation has now been absorbed into the UK hire division.
Speedy’s interim results, issued in November, indicate that the company is beginning to rebuild its profitability after three years of losses, with operating profits of £6.4m before exceptional items of £2.9m (compared with an operating loss of £7.4m before exceptional items of £0.6m in the same period of 2010).
INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30/9/11 30.09.11 (£m) 30.09.10 (£m) % change
Revenue
Operating profit/(loss) -Exceptional items
Financial expense (Loss) before taxation
161.8 6.4
(2.9)* 3.5
(5.8)** (2.3)
177.3 (7.4) (0.6) (8.0) (5.8)
(13.8)
*2011 exceptional items relate to restructuring costs arising from the disposal of the accommodation hire business;
** 2011 financial expense includes an exceptional cost of £2.2m, arising from the company’s new credit facility agreed in July 2011.
Speedy’s UK and Ireland hire business generated revenue of £156.2m in the half year; of this £153.3m came from ‘continuing operations’ i.e. excluding accommodation and an expired Network Rail contract. Speedy indicates that the comparative revenue figure for 2010 is £151.3m, showing an underlying growth in revenue of 1.5% in UK and Ireland. The division saw significant progress in its recovery with pre-interest profits rising to £13.7m from £1.5m.
The International & Advisory Services division saw its revenues grow by 24% to £5.6m. It reduced its pre-interest losses from £1.8m to £1.6m. Within the division, the revenues from the Middle East rose by 30% to £4.8m. (As we indicate above, the Advisory Services part of the division has now been closed).
33
-8.7 - - - -
Steve Corcoran
Unit 1, The Parks, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside WA12 0JQ 01942 720000
www.speedyhire.plc.uk
Tools, power, survey and lifting equipment, pumps, non-mechanical access and rail. UK, Ireland, UAE, Oman and Egypt
Public company, listed on the London Stock Exchange
2011 may represent a turning point for Speedy. After a prolonged period of painful adjustment to the hire market’s decline and subdued recovery, it has new banking facilities, together with a strengthened balance sheet and has rationalised its business. The UK’s largest hirer is going into 2012 in a stronger position than a year ago, supporting Steve Corcoran’s expression of “reasonable optimism” for the year ahead. Speedy shares, however, are still struggling and ended 2011 at 20p, which capitalises the business at £103m.
HSS HIRE SERVICE GROUP LTD Chief Executive
Chris Davies Head Office
Telephone Number Website
Hire activities
Geographical coverage Status
COMMENT
HSS issued quarterly updates on its progress throughout 2011. Its latest report, published in mid-November, indicates a like-for-like growth rate of 7.7% to take revenues for the first nine months to £136.4m. EBITDA reached £30.7m, a like-for-like increase of 3.1%. The lower level of growth in EBITDA reflects the roll-out costs of a new logistics and operational platform. The costs of this mean that EBITDA growth for 2011 will be behind revenue growth, which the Group expects to remain at a steady level, ‘despite challenging economic conditions’. The quarterly report draws attention to the continued strong performance and revenue growth from HSS Training.
2011 saw the launch of HSS Outsource Cleaning, described as ‘an innovative outsourcing service for cleaning and FM contractors.’ Among supply contracts awarded were a preferred supplier agreement with Kier Group and a sole supplier agreement with Simons Group. HSS has also been appointed as sole supplier to British Waterways for five years.
Chris Davies sums up HSS’ progress in 2011 as “we’ve seen sustained revenue growth and have established several major long-term strategic partnerships with some big customers. We’ve also invested significantly in a new logistics and operating network, laying the foundations for strong efficiency gains as well as further service level improvements into 2012. I don’t think 2012 will be easy, but we’ll keep our focus on the things that we know matter most to our customers - safety, value, availability and support.“
HSS has had a good year in 2011; the No.2 hirer grew its market share and continues to innovate by moving into areas of the market which have not been the province of hirers.
25 Willow Lane, Mitcham CR4 4TS 020 8260 3100
www.hss.com
General tool and equipment hire, sales, training and services, specialist activities such as lifting, safety, survey and welding
UK, Ireland and international franchises Private company with private equity funding
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