Herc Rentals topped the billion-dollar mark in total revenues for the second quarter of 2025 at $1.002 billion, compared to $848 million for the second quarter of 2024, an 18.2-percent increase, driven by a 14-percent jump in equipment rental revenue. Equipment rental revenue rose from $765 million in the second quarter of 2024 to $870 million in the second quarter of 2025, a 13.7-percent increase, which includes the impact of second-half acquisitions and the June 2025 results of H&E Rentals, which were included in the numbers.
Herc’s sales of rental equipment increased in the quarter from $65 million a year ago to $106 million in the just-concluded quarter, a 63.1-percent hike. Sale of new equipment also took a big leap from $10 million to $17 million, a 70-percent rise.
For the first six months of the year, Herc posted $1.863 billion in total revenue compared to $1.652 billion for the first six months of 2024, a 12.8-percent rise. Rental revenue for the first half of 2025 was $1.609 billion, compared to $1.484 billion in the first half of 2024, an 8.4-percent increase. Sales of rental equipment increased from $134 million a year ago to $211 million in the first half of 2025, a 57.5-percent hike, while sales of new equipment, parts and supplies went from $19 million to $28 million, a 47-percent jump.
“The second quarter marked an important milestone for our company,” said Larry Silber, president and CEO. “On June 2nd, we completed the transaction to bring Herc Rentals and H&E Equipment Services together. This acquisition, the largest in the industry, will accelerate our strategy to deliver market leading growth and superior value creation by providing geographic and customer diversification, a substantially expanded footprint in key regions with economies of scale, and a larger fleet to strengthen our position as a premier rental company in North America.
“With the merger now behind us, our focus is on integration, optimization and ensuring delivery of the revenue and cost synergy targets we established. It has been only about eight weeks since the close and I am pleased with the go-to-market collaboration, fleet sharing, and process alignment. The teams are working very well together, united in their shared commitment to our customers’ success and energized by the unique opportunity that our combined strengths represent. While integration is off to a great start, of course there is a lot of work ahead. H&E’s performance was impacted by disruptions to the employee base during the acquisition bidding process and through the closing. Since taking over, we have stabilized that, but dis-synergies had already resulted. Those, combined with the continued moderation in the interest-rate sensitive commercial sector are factored into our new, combined outlook for 2025, which also incorporates offsetting strength in mega project activity and ongoing growth in our specialty solutions business.”
Dollar utilization decreases
Dollar utilization decreased to 38.3 percent in the second quarter, compared to 41 percent in the prior-year period, primarily reflecting the impact from the H&E acquisition and year-over-year decline of the Cinelease business.
Transaction expenses were $73 million compared to $30 million in the prior-year period. The increase is related to costs incurred for the H&E acquisition, including advisory fees of $27 million, commitment fees related to the bridge facility of $21 and other consulting and legal fees.
Adjusted EBITDA increased 13 percent to $406 million compared to $360 million in the prior-year period and adjusted EBITDA margin was 40.5 percent compared to 42.5 percent in the prior-year period. The decrease was primarily because of the increased volume of lower margin sales of used equipment and the impact of the H&E acquisition.
Herc opened 11 new greenfield locations during the first six months of 2025.
Herc Rentals, headquartered in Bonita Springs, Fla., now, with the acquisition of H&E Equipment Services, has 622 locations in North America. The company is No. 3 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.