United Rentals Picks Up 7.8 Percent in Rental Revenue in the Second Quarter
United Rentals posted $3.215 billion in rental revenue in the second quarter of 2024, compared to $2.981 billion in the second quarter of 2024, a 7.8-percent increase. Total revenue in the quarter was $3.773 billion compared to $3.554 billion in Q223, a 6.2-percent hike.
For the first six months of the year, rental revenue totaled $6.144 billion compared to $5.721 billion a year ago, a 7.4-percent rental volume hike. Total revenues were $7.258 billion compared to $6.839 billion in the year-ago frame, a 6.1-percent jump.
Fleet productivity increased 4.6 percent year over year, including the impact of the Yak acquisition, and increased 3 percent excluding the impact of the Yak acquisition, while average original equipment at cost increased 2.7 percent.
The specialty rentals segment’s rental revenue was the big star of the second quarter with a 27 percent year-over-year increase to $1.006 billion, including the impact of the Yak acquisition. Excluding the Yak acquisition, rental revenue increased 18.1 percent. Rental gross margin decreased by 60 basis points year over year to 48 percent, which primarily reflected increased depreciation expense, including the impact of the Yak acquisition.
“We were pleased with our record second-quarter results across revenue, adjusted EBITDA and EPS, as 2024 continues to play out as we expected,” said Matthew Flannery, United Rentals CEO. “The integration of Yak remains on track. This acquisition builds upon our one-stop shop strategy of providing customers a best-in-class rental experience through our general rentals and specialty offerings. The team’s steadfast focus on providing this unique value proposition to our customers, coupled with an unwavering focus on safety, operational excellence and innovation, remains the cornerstone of our strategy and enables us to drive long-term shareholder value.
“As we enter the second half of 2024, we are confident that our consistent execution will enable us to deliver on our updated guidance, with the mid-point for both revenue and adjusted EBITDA reaffirmed, and our expectations for capex and free cash flow unchanged. We continue to see particular strength in large projects, and believe we are uniquely positioned to capitalize on these opportunities in addition to other long-term avenues of growth.”
Based in Stamford, Conn., United Rentals is 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.