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(Alliance News) - Ashtead Group PLC on Tuesday announced profit growth in the third quarter of its financial year 2023, citing markets as benefitting from current US legislative policies and megaprojects.
The London-based US-focused industrial equipment rental company said pretax profit in the three months to January 31 climbed 29% to USD505 million from USD393 million a year prior. Revenue grew 23% to USD2.43 billion from USD2.00 billion. Rental revenue increased 22% to USD2.19 billion from USD1.82 billion.
"Our business is performing well with clear momentum in strong end markets, which are enhanced by the increasing number of mega projects and recent US legislative acts," the company said.
Chief Executive Officer Brendan Horgan said: "We are executing well against all actionable components of our strategic growth plan, in end markets which remain strong. In [the nine months to January 31], we invested USD2.6 billion in capital across existing locations and greenfields and USD970 million on 38 bolt-on acquisitions, adding a combined 120 locations in North America.
"This significant investment is enabling us to take advantage of the substantial structural growth opportunities that we see for the business as we deliver our strategic priorities to grow our general tool and specialty businesses and advance our clusters."
Looking ahead, Ashtead anticipates results for financial year 2023 ending April 30 to be ahead of previous expectations. For the whole group, Ashtead now expects annual rental revenue growth of 21% to 23%, up from a previous range 18% to 21%.
"We are in a position of strength, with the operational flexibility to capitalise on the opportunities arising from these strong markets and ongoing drivers of structural change, including supply chain constraints, inflation and labour scarcity," Ashtead said.
Ashtead shares rose 3.2% to 5,926.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning, making it the top FTSE 100 performer.
By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter
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