Revenues, profit up for Speedy

Successful acquisitions and a strong UK market were cited as key drivers for Speedy Hire’s latest financial results, which saw its annual revenues grow 6.4%, to £371.6 million (€540.15 million).

The company has acquired Prolift Access Limited and Platform Sales & Hire Limited over the last 12 months, which has boosted its powered access offerings. Speedy said the synergies created by these acquisitions had occurred earlier than expected.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) also rose 15.7% for Speedy over the 12-month period, to £73 million (€83.61 million), dating from 31 March 2017 to 31 March 2018. Its net debt also decreased 2.8%, to £69.4 million (€79.49 million).

Speedy’s asset utilisation in the UK and Ireland improved by 7.6% to 55.4%, while its average fleet age reduced to 3.8-years-old, from 4.2-years-old.

Russell Down, Speedy’s CEO, said, “We are delighted with these results which reflect a strong operational performance, robust capital management, the benefits of the strategy which was launched in September 2015, the impact of our recovery initiatives and some earlier than expected acquisition synergies.

“The market remains competitive; however the current year has got off to an encouraging start with revenue ahead of the comparative period on a like for like basis. Whilst we are early into the new financial year, and some of the benefits from the acquisitions have been realised, we are confident of delivering further progress in the year ahead in line with our current expectations.”