Hss Hire Regulatory News (HSS)

29 June 2015

HSS Hire Group plc

Pre-close trading update

HSS Hire Group plc (the "Group") today issues the following pre-close trading update for the six months to 27 June 2015.

Progress on the Group's three key strategic priorities

New local branches

The local branch roll out is on track and the 28th new branch this financial year opened today in Bicester. With an effective branch opening team in place and another 22 new branches in progress for 2015, we remain confident in meeting our planned 2015 opening target of 50 branches. Furthermore, the 2016 pipeline of openings is building well with six locations already in development. To support this growth we are pleased to announce the opening of a new 43,000 sq. ft. customer distribution facility in Reading which will add further supply capacity in the Thames Valley and West London. The performance of the Group's new local branches remains in line with plan.

Growing share of Key Account customer wallet

In the first half of the year, the Group has continued to work with existing customers to support their needs, investing carefully in new equipment alongside that demand. In addition, the Group has been successful in a number of new customer tenders, which will start to contribute to Group results in the second half of the year.

Bolt-on acquisitions

The Group announced the acquisition of All Seasons Hire on 11 May 2015. Integration of the business is continuing to plan and initial customer reaction has been positive. The first phase of investment to expand the All Seasons Hire fleet and national depot footprint has already been made and this will help to support the growth of the business in the second half.

Current trading

The Group's trading performance through Q2 was marginally below expectations, primarily impacted by weakness in Key Accounts customer activity across a number of sectors particularly in April and May, as well as reduced demand for cooling equipment during the period. In June, we have seen customer activity begin to return to more normalised levels, with order books building into the second half of the year.

We believe the Group continued to take market share over the period and consequently expect to report high-single digit organic revenue growth for Q2 15. This revenue performance, combined with the start-up costs of new branches in their first year of trading, is expected to result in H1 2015 Adjusted EBITDA (1) being in line with the comparative period in 2014.

HSS Hire will announce its interim results for the six months to 27 June 2015 on Wednesday 26 August 2015.

Explanatory Notes:

1) Adjusted EBITDA defined as loss/profit for the period before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and exceptional items

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Note to editors

HSS Hire Group plc provides tool and equipment hire and related services in the UK and Ireland through a nationwide network of over 265 locations. Focusing primarily on the maintain and operate segments of the market, over 90% of its revenues come from business customers. HSS is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, following its IPO in February 2015. For more information please see www.hsshiregroup.com.

Forward-looking statements

Certain information contained in this announcement may constitute "forward-looking statements", including all matters that are not historical facts and statements regarding the Directors or the Group's intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, the Group's results of operations, financial condition, prospects, growth and strategies. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results or actual performance of the Group to differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no representation or warranty is made as to the achievement of, and undue reliance should not be placed on, such forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made.