HALT on track for growth

26 January 2021

Stockton-on-Tees was where the first rail of George Stephenson’s historic Stockton and Darlington Railway was installed. And you could certainly say that local independent, HALT Hire, is going like a train.

“Revenue in the last three months of 2020 far exceeded our expectations, and January is shaping up to be way ahead of our targets,” managing director Simon Whitfield told me.

“We are getting more work from civil engineering contractors, and the fibre optic broadband rollout really kicked off here early in October.” The government promised in its 2019 manifesto to deliver gigabit capable broadband via full-fibre cables to every home and business by 2025.

“I’ve ordered four more mini excavators and they’ll be out on hire as soon as they arrive, for long-term contracts. Demand is across the board, from cut-off saws and floor saws, to compaction plates and CAT & genny tools. It’s incredible.”

Another exciting development is the establishment in December of a sister operation, HALT Hire Toilets Ltd.

“We’ve had occasional re-hire requests for toilets over the years, so I knew this was a potential growth area, especially as there are plans to build a lot of new homes in the Stockton area by 2032,” says Simon.

“We decided to buy 22 toilets in our corporate colours from Satellite Industries, and the response from our existing customers has simply been phenomenal. We’ll be buying more to meet the demand.” 

HALT Hire opened for business in 2016. As we reported back in August, Simon has plans for additional depots and says that we could see the first of them in Q2 this year.