Ashtead climbs on back of rival United Rentals' confident outlook

Shares in Ashtead topped the FTSE 100 on Thursday morning as investors read across from the results of US-based sector peer United Rentals, which reported slightly improved quarterly results overnight.

With Ashtead's US-focused Sunbelt providing the bulk of group sales, it was significant that Connecticut-headquartered United Rentals retained its full year outlook, with management reaffirming revenue, operating profit, capital spending and free cash flow guidance for 2016.

Market leader United also said it was solid growth on both the east and west Coasts of the US, though conditions remain challenging in Canada.

"Based on what we saw through the mid-year, and what we hear from the field, we continue to expect our business to improve both seasonally and cyclically," United chief executive Michael Kneeland said, although acknowledging the "elevated uncertainty" about the global economy.

Analysts at Peel Hunt in London said the key observation for Ashtead was the continued momentum in its key US regions, with demand for speciality and improved rental rate guidance.

The broker confidently retained its 2017 pre-tax profit forecast of £750m, ahead of consensus £720m to reflect currency moves, with earnings per share of 97.1p.

JP Morgan Cazenove also commented on the impact for the UK group: "We would expect the commentary on the sequentially improving rental rate to be taken positively by Ashtead, reinforcing some of the more positive data points seen in recent months."

At 0945 BST Ashtead shares were up 3.9% at 1,172p, close to last year's all-time high.