HSS Hire narrows losses as new strategy bears fruit

Tool and equipment hire firm HSS Hire narrowed its losses in the first half as revenue grew and the company said it has made "significant progress" on its new strategy.

In the 26 weeks to 30 June, the reported loss before tax narrowed to £7.1m from £30.1m in the same period a year ago, with an adjusted pre-tax loss of £0.7m versus £14.2m. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation swung to £6.8m from a loss of £7.3m a year ago.

Revenue rose 5.8% to £169.8m, driven by improved availability and sales initiatives, and the adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 17.6% from 10.6%.

HSS said trading momentum continued for the eight weeks to 25 August 2018, with underlying revenue up more than 5% versus the comparable period last year and underlying core rental revenue more than 4% higher.

Chief executive officer Steve Ashmore said: "We are eight months into our new strategy and the group has made significant progress. In this time we transitioned seamlessly to a new distribution model, refinanced the group giving us long-term stability and announced the sale of our UK Platforms business, allowing us to focus on the tool hire business and further reduce our debt.

"Alongside this strong operational progress, trading has been much improved, helped by our increased focus on our tool hire business and by customer demand for our extensive range of relevant seasonal products.

"With significant operational change behind us and continued momentum in current trading, we look forward with confidence as our attention turns to driving improved performance from the tool hire business and strengthening the group's commercial proposition."

At 1100 BST, the shares were up 8.7% to 30.15p.