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EXECUTIVE REPORT


Douglas (left) and Iain Anderson


believe GAP’s turnover could exceed £200m in its current financial year.


GAP grows in size


Alan Guthrie holds a Q&A session with Douglas and Iain Anderson, Joint MDs of GAP, discussing industry trends and the recent results from the company, which is looking forward to celebrating its 50th anniversary next year.


Q. GAP’s recent annual results to 31 March 2018 showed record annual turnover of £186.6m, with pre-tax profit of £16.7m, and you are budgeting to do over £200m this year. What’s driving this? A. We are still investing a similar percentage of our turnover in new kit and we have focused on doing more business with our existing major account customers. So in one sense we are pushing on an open door - but you still have to push it! Roughly half this growth is coming from hiring traditional tools and equipment, and half from our Non Plant & Tools Divisions like Event Services, Non-Mechanical Plant, Lifting, Survey & Safety and Welfare Services.


Q. In August you launched Trust Our Tools. What’s that exactly? A. It’s a way of highlighting how we offer a complete range of tools alongside our other plant and equipment. Our tool hire revenue has remained the same while that from other product categories has increased. A number of our customers have been investing in their own tools, so Trust Our Tools redresses the balance. By the end of this financial year, we will have spent £10m on new tools, and we kick-started the initiative with a significant investment in a comprehensive range of Hilti corded and cordless products, which customers were asking us for. We keep broadening our fleet, while some other hirers seem to be shrinking theirs.


“We keep


broadening our fleet,


while some other hirers seem to be shrinking theirs”


Q. Do you plan to expand by adding more specialist activities? A. Obviously, you always look to see what is happening in the industry and what customers need. Powered access and power generation, for example, are areas that aren’t served by our Non Plant & Tools Divisions but, having said that, we are expanding the business by developing our existing ones. The real tipping point in our growth was achieving genuine national coverage [GAP currently has 135 locations across its eight Divisions]. That obviously gave major contractors faith in our brand and we could then quickly build on our offering to them. When we introduced Lifting Hire & Sales in 2011, we opened six specialist depots virtually overnight, immediately establishing a national presence to serve our customers.


Q. GAP also reported growth in its re-hire business. What does that indicate? A. A willingness to get what the customer needs to get the job done. If there are items of equipment requested in a tender from, say, a utilities company which include items we don’t have in the fleet, such as specialist water pumps, we source the equipment from our re-hire partners so that we can literally tick all the boxes and offer a complete


solution. People want to deal with a single source of supply. And this also helps us identify new opportunities and new products, giving a route map to additional items to add to our existing hire fleet.


A comprehensive range of Hilti tools have been added to the fleet recently. 13


The Lifting Hire & Sales Division was established in 2011.


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