While some hire companies are forming alliances with builder's merchant groups, and and some builder's merchants are setting up hire operations in their own right, Speedy Hire has decided to abandon its plans to set up counters inside B&Q stores.
"Our partnership with B&Q has evolved to a more digitally focused model during the final quarter of FY2024 and we have now fully exited the remaining 22 concessions. The Group incurred trading losses and closure costs in the region of c.£2m in FY2024 which will not recur under the new, low cost-to-serve model." reads a year end trading update, which also mentions that total group revenue to March 31 was c.£420m. While that's certainly impressive, it's actually around 5% down compared to FY2023.
Getting back to the B&Q arrangement and its customers will still be able to hire Speedy equipment, albeit digitally rather than physically. The report does not mention how this will be achieved in-store. However, Speedy's offering is currently available on the B&Q website.
https://www.speedyservices.com/