Hertz Global Holdings reported third-quarter 2011 worldwide revenues of $2.4 billion, an 11.3-percent year-over-year increase. Revenues from worldwide equipment rental for the third quarter were $321.7 million, a 14.4-percent year-over-year boost.
Adjusted pre-tax income for worldwide equipment rental was $55.9 million, compared with $33.7 million for the third quarter of 2010, a 65.9-percent hike. The company attributed the boost to increased volume and pricing as well as cost-management initiatives. Worldwide equipment rental achieved an adjusted pre-tax margin of 17.4 percent, and a corporate EBITDA margin of 42.1 percent for the quarter.
Equipment rental revenue jumped 13.9 percent for the first nine months of the year, from $784.1 million a year ago to $891.6 million for the first nine months of 2011.
“Rental markets in North America for the quarter were estimated to have grown slightly less than 5 percent, and we continue to drive higher market share, leveraging our industrial efforts, continued focus on specialty products such as Pump and Power, as well as niche markets such as entertainment,” Hertz chief financial officer Elyse Douglas told a conference call of investors. “We believe rental solutions are a more attractive option in an uncertain economy and national players are positioned to capitalize on these opportunities with newer fleet purchases. This improved demand was also supported by growth in government and railroad projects.”
Douglas added that the company continues to build its industrial base with the acquisition of WGI Rentals in North Dakota to take advantage of the industrial petrochemical market in the Bakken shale oil and gas fields, as well as the October acquisition of Delta Rigging, expanding HERC’s reach into the offshore oil and gas market.
“Utilization is improving sequentially in the U.S. in the fourth quarter,” added Hertz chairman and CEO Mark Frissora. “Pricing continues to trend positive as we bring in new fleet. The increasing demand for earthmoving equipment for oil and gas projects, for example, and the growth in our specialty divisions like Pump & Power and Entertainment are helping to offset ongoing weakness in the construction market.”
Frissora also told investors that HERC has “a lot of growth initiatives that you don’t see in our numbers right now.” He said the company’s recent acquisitions are significant in terms of growth potential and that the company has “a couple of other acquisitions in the works right now [that] should be announced in the fourth quarter.”
Based in Park Ridge, N.J., Hertz Equipment Rental Corp., No. 4 on the RER 100, operates in the United States, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Saudi Arabia.
