(Alliance News) - Speedy Hire PLC on Thursday said it swung to a loss in the first half of its current financial year, as revenue fell and costs increased.
The Merseyside, England-based tool and equipment hire company said it swung to a pretax loss of GBP2.2 million during the six months that ended September 30, from a profit of GBP5.6 million the year before.
Revenue fell 2.4% to GBP203.6 million from GBP208.5 million last year, while cost of sales also reduced 5.8% to GBP90.2 million from GBP95.8 million.
Distribution & administrative costs increased 6.7% to GBP108.2 million from GBP101.4 million, and financial expenses were up 32% to GBP7.5 million from GBP5.7 million.
Speedy Hire declared an interim dividend of 0.80 pence per share, unchanged year-on-year.
Chief Executive Officer Dan Evans said: "We have delivered resilient results for the first half of financial 2025 against a challenging but manageable market backdrop, whilst maintaining investment in our Velocity strategy. The group secured significant contract wins and renewals earlier in the calendar year, which will deliver revenue and profit growth in this financial year and beyond.
"The second half has started well, with hire revenues for October and November to date up around 3% on this time last year. Consistent with prior years, the group expects a strong second-half weighting to its hire revenues and profits, as the seasons change and new contracts fully mobilise. It is particularly encouraging that we are mobilising the Amey contract earlier than anticipated, in addition to a strong pipeline of further opportunities that give us confidence in the outlook for the business.
"The board anticipates the group meeting its full-year expectations."
Broker Peel Hunt forecast full-year revenue of GBP442 million for Speedy Hire, which would be 4.9% higher than GBP421.5 million last year, and pretax profit of GBP16.0 million, more than tripling from GBP5.1 million.
Shares in Speedy Hire were down 9.0% at 26.40 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon.
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
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