Sunbelt Rentals Posts Blockbuster First Fiscal Quarter
Sunbelt Rentals reported fiscal 2017 first quarter revenue of $982.8 million compared to $853.1 million for the same period a year ago, a 15.2-percent boost. The fiscal first quarter ended July 31. EBITDA for the quarter was $503.4 million compared to 428.9 million a year ago, a 17.4-percent increase, while operating profit jumped from $268.9 million to $319.7 million, an 18.9-percent hike.
Rental revenue for Ashtead plc, including sister company A-Plant in the United Kingdom, was £828.8 million (about U.S. $1.1 billion) for the first quarter compared to £660.8 million for the fiscal first quarter of 2016, a 25.4-percent leap.
“I am delighted to be able to report another strong quarter for Ashtead with group rental revenue increasing 25 percent and underlying pre-tax profit increasing by 30 percent to £238 million,” said Ashtead chief executive Geoff Drabble. “The reported results were impacted favorably by weaker sterling but, with 17 percent growth in group rental revenue at constant exchange rates, we have continuing good momentum. Our end markets remain strong and a wide range of metrics have shown consistent improvement.
“We continue to execute well on our strategy through a combination of organic growth and bolt-on acquisitions. We made significant investments in the quarter, spending £377 million on capital expenditure and £116 million on bolt-on acquisitions.”
Drabble added that strong margins ensured that despite these levels of investment, the company remains within its target range for net debt to EBITDA of 1.5 to 2 times.
“At the end of the quarter both businesses were performing well, in line with expectations and with positive momentum,” Drabble said. “Hurricane season has already generated significant activity which will require a major clean-up effort and then a multi-year rebuild program. Currently our efforts are focused on supporting our colleagues, neighbors and customers and we stand ready to provide further assistance. It is too early to attempt to quantify the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma accurately on our businesses. However, it is evident that it will result in an increase in demand for our fleet and we will provide an update at the end of Q2. Looking forward, as a minimum, we expect that the impact will help to underpin the current market assumptions in our 2021 plan and therefore the board continues to look to the medium term with confidence.”
Sunbelt Rentals, No. 2 on the RER 100, is based in Fort Mill, S.C. Ashtead plc is headquartered in London.
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.