Alta Equipment Boosts Net Revenue 48.9 Percent in First Quarter
Alta Equipment posted net revenue of $268.8 million in the first quarter of 2021 compared to $180.5 million in the first quarter of 2020, a 48.9-percent increase. Rental revenue was $33.1 compared to $25.2 million a year ago, a 31.3-percent hike. New and used equipment sales increased from $82.2 million to $123.8 million; parts sales jumped from $28.7 million to $41.4 million and service revenue leapt from $30.2 million to $38.7 million.
On March 1, Alta Equipment acquired the assets of ScottTech, a material handling, warehouse control software and turnkey warehouse system integration provider. The addition provides synergies with PeakLogix and expands Alta’s capabilities with customers in the warehouse, logistics and e-commerce markets. The company also refinanced its capital structure via the completion of an offering of $315 million worth of 5.625-percent senior secured second lien notes on April 1, creating $280 million of credit line availability and reducing the company’s cost of debt. The move helps provide the financial structure to support the execution of its growth strategy.
“We experienced continued improvement in our key business drivers as customer demand accelerated in the first quarter,” said Ryan Greenawalt, Alta CEO. “Rental fleet utilization and equipment sales volume increased to drive adjusted EBITDA of $22.9 million for the quarter. Our recent capital raise of $315 million significantly enhances our capital structure and bolsters our ability to pursue our growth strategy in a manner accretive to shareholders. Our financial guidance reflects confidence in our markets and ability to execute on our business plan. We look forward to carrying the momentum of the quarter through the remainder of 2021 and beyond.”
Alta’s numerous acquisitions helped drive the company’s increase as did improved customer demand.
Alta expects to report adjusted EBITDA in the range of $110 million to $115 million, net of new equipment floorplan interest, for the full year 2021. At the midpoint, this represents a 35.5-percent increase compared to $83.0 million in Adjusted EBITDA in 2020.
Alta Equipment, based in Livonia, Mich., is No. 25 on the new 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.