In what appears to be the end of a decade-long run of growth, the RER 100 increased 11.4 percent in 2019 to top $28 billion. Representing close to half of the rental industry’s rental revenue, the 100 largest rental companies enjoyed another strong year in 2019.
The RER 100 reported $28.084 billion compared to $25.213 billion for 2018. While the pace of growth was not quite as robust as 2017 and 2018, the RER 100 posted double-digit growth for the seventh time in the past nine years. Last year’s growth rate was 11.4 percent compared to a 15 percent year-over-year growth rate in 2018, and 13.6 percent in 2017.
The top 10 companies of the RER 100 fared even better year over year. The top 10 companies posted $20.556 billion in rental revenue compared to $18.231 billion the previous year, up 12.7 percent. In 2018 the top 10 jumped 17.1 percent from the previous year, and in 2017 the top 10 increased 17.2 percent from the previous year.
From 2019 to 2020, almost 40 percent of the RER 100 companies posted double-digit rental volume increases. Among companies that reported revenue, the percentage was a bit higher. In general, the size of the increases were not as big as last year. There were fewer 20- or 30-percent increases and more in the teens range. Still most rental companies are more than happy with double-digit rental volume increases.
Once again United Rentals occupies the top spot with $7.964 billion in rental volume and $9.351 billion in total volume, with, currently, 1,175 locations. Sunbelt Rentals again is in the No. 2 spot with $5.4 billion in rental revenue and $5.8 billion in total volume, with 895 locations. Coming in third is Herc Rentals with $1.701 billion in rental volume and $1.999 billion in total revenue, with 275 locations.
Home Depot Rentals rounds out the billion-dollar rental volume club with $1.056 billion in rental volume, with 1,445 rental departments. Maxim Crane Works rounds out the top five companies with an estimated $950 million in rental volume. The top 10 on the listing also includes BrandSafway at No. 6; H&E Equipment Services at No. 7; Ahern Rentals at No. 8; Sunstate Equipment Corp. at No. 9; and Aggreko North America at No. 10.
As 2020 began, some of the RER 100 companies expected this year to continue along the same level of growth as the past few years, although others felt the growth rate was likely to slow down some but still expected revenue increases. A sentiment expressed by several RER 100 executives and economists was that the economy would continue to do reasonably well barring the unforeseen. Obviously, none were able to predict a global pandemic. Many RER 100 companies surveyed for this issue said business has already slowed significantly, while others said as construction is an essential service in many cases, business continues to roll along well because of jobs already in progress, although they were uncertain how they’d fare in the coming months. We won’t try to predict at this point how the RER 100 will perform in 2020.
The entire RER 100 will be available for complete viewing in RER’s May print edition. To access the May issue’s digital edition and read the complete RER 100, please click on the link below and scroll to page 16: https://secure.viewer.zmags.com/publication/4640c228
