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HSS sells All Seasons Hire

30 September 2021

HSS sells All Seasons Hire

HSS has entered into an unconditional agreement to sell All Seasons Hire Ltd, the Group's heating, ventilation and air-conditioning hire business, to Cross Rental Services for a cash consideration of £55m. 

The proceeds will principally be used to accelerate the repayment of debt. HSS says this will decrease leverage significantly and enable the group to refinance its current facilities on attractive terms.

HSS has also entered into a commercial agreement with Cross Rental for the re-hire of HVAC equipment and services. This follows the implementation of a similar commercial agreement following the disposal of the Group's aerial work platform business to Nationwide Platforms in 2019.

All Seasons represented £18m of group revenues and £6m of group operating profit for the year ended 26 December 2020.

Steve Ashmore, HSS chief executive, commented: "Over the last four years HSS has undergone a radical transformation to become a modern, agile, digitally-driven business. During this time, we have continued to deliver against the strategic goals we set out in 2017 – to de-lever the group, transform the tool hire business, and strengthen our commercial proposition - and today's announcement marks the completion of one of these goals. 

“With leverage at around 1.0x post this disposal, we have materially exceeded our previously stated targets. Going forward the group will target leverage remaining between 1.0-1.5x.” 

• HSS reports a positive outlook in its half-year results announced today for the 27- week period ended 3 July 2021, with like-for-like revenues at 99% of H1 2019, with Q2 2021 at 102%. Ebitda and Ebita are ahead of 2019, up 13% and 99% respectively.

The group has previously stated its intention to introduce a digitally-led, lower-cost operating model, HSS Pro POS, providing single point-of-sale access to its full range of products and services. It says that online revenue is up 75% compared to the prior year, representing 24% of transactions in H1 2021. 

 


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