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City News: Strong growth for A-Plant Catherine Stratton reviews A-Plant’s latest financial results. Ashtead’s Group results are dominated by its US business Sunbelt, now the second largest player in the US rental market following its acquisition of NationsRent last year. The $1 billion acquisition, with its resultant extraordinary items, has impacted considerably on the overall figures with the company recording a loss before tax of £36.5m, which is after charging exceptional costs and other provisions of £117.9m. The company says it expects no further exceptional costs relating to the acquisition. It has been a year of sound progress for Ashtead’s UK business, A-Plant. The company undertook its first acquisition for some time when it bought the Lux Traffic business, giving A-Plant clear market leadership in the hire of temporary traffic systems. The company says it achieved same store growth of 11% in the year; it attributes this to a 5% increase in average fleet utilisation to 69% and a 1% growth in hire rates. In April, A-Plant embarked on the implementation of a new investment programme. This involves the restructuring of its profit centre infrastructure over the coming year ‘to create fewer, large sites with higher levels of activity’. The company says that the larger pools of equipment and staff will improve operational efficiency and enable A-Plant to meet its customers’ needs better. Ashtead Group Finance Director Ian Robson points out that 95% of A-Plant’s revenues are earned by plant delivered to site, obviating the need for a large number of small profit centres. An exceptional charge of £6.2m was recorded in the fourth quarter in respect of the cost of vacant premises closed as part of this plan. • Executive Hire News › Archives › August 2007 › City News › Strong growth for A-Plant
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