Total Revenue Jumps 28.3 Percent in Second Quarter for United Rentals
United Rentals posted $3.554 billion in total revenues in the second quarter of 2023, compared to $2.771 billion in the second quarter of 2022, a 28.3-percent increase. Equipment rental revenue was $2.981 billion compared to $2.462 billion a year ago, a 21.1-percent increase. Sales of used rental equipment more than doubled to $382 million compared to $164 million in the year-ago quarter. Sales of new equipment also increased significantly, nearly doubling from $38 million in Q222 to $70 million in the recently concluded quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA was $1.695 billion, at a margin of 47.7 percent, a 29.3-percent year-over-year EBITDA hike. On a pro forma basis, including the pre-acquisition results of Ahern Rentals in last year’s second quarter, adjusted EBITDA margin jumped 130 basis points.
The increase of rental revenue reflected broad-based strength of demand across the company’s end markets and the impact of the Ahern Rentals acquisition. The used equipment sales increase primarily reflected the normalization of volumes and the impact of the Ahern Rentals acquisition.
Net income for the quarter increased 19.9 percent year over year to a second quarter record of $591 million, while net income margin decreased 120 basis points to 16.6 percent. On a pro forma basis, including the pre-acquisition results of Ahern Rentals, second quarter net income margin was flat year over year.
Strong quarter for general rental
The general rentals segment rental revenue increased 22.5 percent year over year, including the impact of the Ahern Rentals acquisition, to a second quarter record of $2.189 billion. Specialty rentals segment rental revenue increased 17.3 percent year over year to a second quarter record of $792 million.
“I’m pleased to share that our record second quarter results were supported by strong customer activity across our business,” said United Rentals CEO Matthew Flannery. “The integration of Ahern is on track, while our team’s outstanding execution drove solid margin expansion both sequentially and year over year. Looking at the balance of 2023, we remain encouraged by the momentum we are carrying into the busiest part of our season as well as our customers’ continued optimism.
“The increases to our full-year guidance speak to the strength of the current environment. As we look ahead, we continue to focus on ensuring that we are best positioned to serve our customers as they capitalize on the multi-year tailwinds we see across infrastructure, manufacturing, and energy and power. We remain confident in our stability to leverage these opportunities to deliver profitable growth, strong cash flow, and attractive returns for our shareholders.”
For the first six months of 2023, total revenues were $6.839 billion, compared to $5.295 billion for the first six months of 2022, a 29.2-percent leap. Equipment rental revenue for the first six months of 2023 totaled $5.721 billion compared to $4.637 billion in first six months of 2022, a 23.4-percent leap. Sales of used rental equipment also more than doubled from $375 million for the first six months of 2022 to $770 million for the first six months of 2023.
United Rentals, headquartered in Stamford, Conn., continues to be No. 1 on the RER 100.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.