Nesco Specialty Rentals has hired rental industry veteran Rob Blackadar as president. Blackadar brings 25 years of experience in the rental and equipment industry and has demonstrated success in driving strong financial and operating results in senior leadership roles in sales and operations. Blackadar most recently worked with Blueline Rental, where he served as senior vice president and division vice president with responsibility for companywide operations in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, including fleet management, service, equipment sales and safety.
Blackadar also held responsibility for the financial results of Blueline’s eastern division, which represented half of the company’s business.
As one of the senior leaders of Blueline, Blackadar led major growth initiatives and operational improvements across the company’s nationwide network, driving a turnaround in the business and supporting the ultimate sale of the company to United Rentals.
Before joining Blueline, Blackadar held a range of leadership and sales roles with United Rentals, Herc Rentals and Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers.
As announced previously, Nesco and Capitol Investment Corp. have entered into a definitive agreement in which Nesco will become a publicly listed company. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter.
Nesco and Capitol recently reported that NESCO posted revenue of $61.5 million in the first quarter of 2019, compared to $57.7 million in the first quarter of 2018, a 6.6-percent revenue increase. Equipment Rental and Sales segment total revenue grew 4.3% to $52.1 million for the quarter from $50.0 million for the same period in 2018. This growth was primarily due to an increase in used equipment sales and market share gains in telecom and rail. The prior year’s revenue included a net benefit of $1.3 million of equipment rental revenue related to power restoration work in Puerto Rico.
Adjusted EBITDA was $30.4 million, up 4.3 percent from the first quarter of 2018.
“Nesco is off to a great start in 2019 and I’m very pleased with our first quarter results which reflected continued robust growth in demand across all our end markets,” said Lee Jacobson, Nesco’s CEO. “We look forward to completing our merger with Capitol, which will allow us to enter into the next phase of Nesco’s growth story by investing in our fleet to meet the demand we have been unable to serve in recent years and continue our strong trajectory as our end markets continue to grow. We have secured hard commitments from our leading suppliers in accordance with our growth plan and fully expect to realize deliveries to meet that plan. We are also progressing in line with our plan to establish a parts, tools and accessories presence across the country by 2020 and opened two new facilities in April.”
Parts, Tools and Accessories (“PTA”) segment revenue grew 21.9% to $9.4 million for the quarter from $7.7 million for the same period in 2018. The increase was due to the acquisition of N&L Equipment, which was completed in July 2018, and expanding demand for PTA products among Nesco’s customer base. The strategic acquisition of N&L added a new location and rounded out Nesco’s PTA offering for a complete product suite including insulated and non-insulated tools as well as test and repair services.
Nesco Specialty Rentals is No. 18 on the RER 100.
