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EXECUTIVE REPORT


Steve Corcoran now heads up Fork Rent and One Call Hire.


Corcoran is back!


Steve Corcoran returns to our hire industry as Chief Executive of Fork Rent Ltd and One Call Hire Ltd. In an exclusive interview, he outlines his strategy to Robert Aplin.


Having succeeded John Brown as Chief Executive of Speedy Hire plc in May 2005, Steve Corcoran’s stated aim for our industry’s No.1 player was ‘to be the Tesco of hire’. Having acquired LGH Generators and Lifting Gear Hire in 2006, Speedy followed this in June 2007 with the £115m cash deal for Hewden’s tool hire operation, which Steve Corcoran described at the time as a ‘transformational acquisition.’ Sadly, for him, it was not the positive purchase he anticipated as the economic world fell apart less than a year later in the wake of the financial crisis. Timing is everything they say, and so it proved for Steve Corcoran and Speedy, although they weren’t the only ones, by any means, to be caught out by the severe downturn.


In January last year, Steve Corcoran finally left Speedy, clearly disillusioned with the constant glare that comes with being a public company. “There was an ever-increasing demand to manage shareholders, rather than the business. During a recessionary period, trying to take long-term positions in a public market is hard when you have to face quarterly reviews.”


Having been out of hire for over 18 months, Steve Corcoran is now back as Chief Executive of both Fork Rent Ltd and One Call Hire Ltd, which he and private equity backers acquired at the end of August. Fork Rent, described as the UK’s largest telescopic handler hire company, and specialist excavator hirer, One Call, are believed to have combined annual revenue in the region of £75m.


The two companies were acquired in a joint venture formed by private equity companies Searchlight Capital Partners and Duke Street. They join a growing list of private equity investors in our hire industry, attracted, no doubt, by the cash generative nature of hire. We understand Steve Corcoran has a significant shareholding in the new operation, and industry rumours suggest that the deal, based on £1 paid for every £1 of assets of the two companies, came in at around £160m.


‘Take your time, choose what you want to do’


Having honoured his one year non-compete agreement with Speedy, Steve, and his wife Nicky, spent last year project managing the re-building of their home in Cheshire. “I’m delighted to report that it came in under budget, and with a better quality finish. I obviously kept close to the market and the best advice given to me at the time was ‘don’t rush it, take your time and choose what you want to do.’


“I studied dozens of hire companies’ accounts, and certainly looked at options outside the industry, including oil and gas, and construction materials. My preferred model was to identify a business with a good asset base and good growth potential. I want to grow a business, not just squeeze more out of an existing business.


The two hirers are “vibrant, growing, well-invested and profitable businesses.”


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