Speedy Hire on track for full year

Tools and equipment hire business Speedy Hire has delivered solid interim results and stated that it is confident of meeting company expectations for the year.

For the six months ended September 30th turnover increased slightly to £169.1m from £161.8m a year earlier, while it turned from a loss of £2.3m in 2011 to a profit of £4.7m this year.

Both its UK and International divisions performed well, pushing up return on capital to 7% (2011: 6.4%).

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Its UK & Ireland business generated underlying growth in revenue of 4.2%, while investing to support clients in the key markets of water, waste, energy and transport.

Its International division, focused on the oil & gas and infrastructure markets in the Middle East, saw year-on-year revenues increase by 77% to £8.5m (2011: £4.8m). During the period the division also began to make a positive contribution to the group, generating an operating profit of £0.3m, compared to an operating loss of £0.8m in the first half of 2011.

Chairman Ishbel Macpherson said: "The board's focus remains on generating high quality, secure and transparent earnings across the group, from markets where capital investment is more certain. The balance sheet remains strong and we are improving the overall return on capital employed. The Board therefore remains confident of Speedy meeting its expectations for the financial year."

During the period, Speedy Hire extended the group's £220m banking facilities by seven months. The facility now runs to August 2015 with no prior scheduled repayments.

Consensus estimates for the full year ending March 31st 2013 are for revenues of £344.9m with pre-tax profits of £16.5m. With estimated earnings per share of 2.36p this puts it on a forward price earnings ratio of 14.2.

CM