Ashtead hails record full year amid 'robust' end markets

Equipment rental firm Ashtead hailed a record full-year performance on Tuesday amid "robust" end markets and a strong performance across all geographies.

In the year to 30 April, adjusted pre-tax profit jumped 26% to $2.27bn, while revenue rose 24% to $9.67bn.

In the US, rental only revenue grew 23% on the previous year to $5.88bn. Ashtead said this represents continued market outperformance and demonstrates the benefits of its strategy of growing the specialty businesses and broadening end markets.

The UK business generated rental only revenue growth of 6% to £429m. Excluding the impact of the work for the Department of Health, which ended during the first quarter of 2022/23, rental only revenue increased 22%.

Chief executive Brendan Horgan said: "We enter the final year of Sunbelt 3.0 with clear momentum in strong end markets, which are enhanced by the increasing number of mega projects and recent US legislative acts.

"We are in a position of strength, with the operational flexibility and financial capacity to capitalise on the opportunities arising from these strong markets and ongoing structural change. The board looks to the future with confidence."