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Sunbelt stays resilient

2 March 2021

Sunbelt stays resilient

Results announced today from Sunbelt Rentals’ parent Ashtead Group, for the nine months and Q3 ended 31 January 2021, show group revenue down by only 2% compared to the corresponding previous period pre-Covid. Total rental revenue was down 3%.

The figures also show the scale of Sunbelt Rentals UK’s efforts in providing equipment and services to support the Government’s testing and vaccination programme (pictured) during the pandemic. 

Group pre-tax profit was £763m (2020: £947m) and the company expects full-year results ahead of previous expectations

Ashtead's chief executive, Brendan Horgan, said the results reflected the successful execution of the group’s long-term strategy following the last recession, to broaden and diversify its end markets and strengthen its balance sheet.  

“This has enabled us to capitalise on our increasing scale while, at the same time, maintaining the business' agility,” he said. “This has been demonstrated over the last year as the Group has responded to the challenges arising as a result of the pandemic.

"The actions we took to optimise cash flow during this period resulted in record free cash flow for the nine months of £1,059m (2020: £363m) contributing to reduced leverage of 1.6 times compared to 1.9 times at year end, towards the lower end of our target range," he said.

 “We expect capital expenditure for the full year to be at the upper end of our previous guidance (c. £700m). Looking forward to 2021/22, we expect to return to growth and anticipate gross capital expenditure of £1.3bn to £1.5bn, which should enable mid-single digit revenue growth in the US.”

Brendan Horgan said that the pandemic impact on volume varied significantly across geographical markets and correlated to the severity of infection rates and associated market level restrictions.

Activity levels compared to the prior year in the UK are actually 22% higher at £444m (2020: £365m), reflecting the higher level of ancillary and sales revenue associated with the work for the Department of Health. This accounted for approximately 25% of UK revenue. 


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