28 August 2015 – interim results
The company, which is the European market leader in the rental of powered access equipment, has announced its interim results for the six months to 30 June, showing a 1% increase in revenues to £119.1m (2014: £117.4m), whilst underlying pre-tax profits rose by 18% to £14.5m (2014: £12.3m). Earnings per share on the same basis rose by 17% to 6.60p (2014: 5.63p) and the interim dividend was raised by 21% to 1.70p (2014: 1.4p). Net debt at the group rose to £96.0m from £89.7m at the start of the year with the group’s investment programme, which resulted in net additions to the rental fleet of £34.6m, largely being offset by strong operational cash flows. The group is bringing forward some capital expenditure from 2016 as it seeks to upgrade and expand its rental fleet so that a total of £75m will be spent this year. Most of the additional spend will be on the purchase of around 3,000 rental machines in the Middle East, France and the UK. The shares remain a BUY.