Today 07:00
Speedy Hire Plc 
("Speedy Hire", "the Company" or "the Group")
17 June 2026
Audited results for the year ended 31 March 2026
Strong strategic progress and operational momentum
Speedy Hire Plc, the UK and Ireland's leading provider of tools, specialist equipment and services, announces its audited results for the year ended 31 March 2026.
Commenting on the results Dan Evans, Chief Executive, said:
"We made strong strategic progress in FY2026, gaining market share with multi-year large-scale contracts, investing to support growth and improving the operational resilience of our business model, in spite of challenging market conditions. Initial trading from our transformational Commercial Agreement7 with ProService7 has been encouraging and on track to deliver the expected significant additional revenues, as well as broadening our addressable market and accelerating the evolution of our hire fleet.
Despite uncertainty caused by global geopolitical events, the new financial year has started well and showing the benefits of high operational gearing, with secured contracts mobilising as anticipated and trading in line with market8 expectations. We enter FY2027 with a clear strategic focus defined by the Velocity strategy and a strengthened foundation for scalable growth, positioning Speedy Hire well to deliver sustainable long‑term value for shareholders and wider stakeholders."
Strategic and operational highlights
· | Encouraging trading from the transformational Commercial Agreement with ProService |
o Enabled by prior investment in technology and operating platform under the Velocity strategy. | |
o Integration progressing positively, supporting unchanged expectations of £50-55m of annualised revenue and significant earnings accretion in FY2027, the first full year post integration. | |
o Increased utilisation of assets (+1.5pp) due to the additional activity associated with the ProService Transaction7. | |
· | Continued market share gains and shift towards long-term, large-scale contracts |
o Strong progress in National accounts, with more than £90m of multi-year, annualised revenue opportunity secured. | |
o Significant long-term contract with Thames Water supporting growth in FY2027. | |
o Further diversification in business mix, with increased exposure to infrastructure and regulated markets and growing Services revenues. | |
· | Velocity growth strategy on track as the Group enters the Deliver phase |
o FY2026 marks completion of the Enable phase, with spend of c.£20m, on time and on budget, successfully repositioning the Group. | |
o Digital and operational investments now embedded, supporting scalability, efficiency and customer service. o In year restructuring expected to deliver annualised cost savings of c.£5m. | |
· | Resilient performance in a challenging market |
o Strong operational delivery despite market conditions and previously announced customer led delays. | |
o Disciplined pricing, cost and cash management maintained, optimising operations and supporting future efficiency gains. | |
o New management in higher margin Lloyds British testing, inspection and certification ("TIC") business, delivering improved performance, with greater opportunity created by ProService. |
Financial highlights
| Year ended 31 March 2026 (£m) | Year ended 31 March 2025 (£m) | Change
|
Revenue | 416.1 | 416.6 | (0.1)% |
Adjusted EBITDA1 | 85.4 | 97.1 | (12.0)% |
Adjusted (loss)/profit before tax1 | (9.8) | 8.7 | £(18.5)m |
Adjusted (loss)/earnings per share (pence)2 | (1.71) | 1.41 | (3.12)p |
|
|
| |
Operating (loss)/profit | (13.3) | 13.4 | £(26.7)m |
Loss before tax | (32.3) | (1.5) | £(30.8)m |
Basic loss per share (pence)2 | (5.77)
| (0.24) | (5.53)p |
|
|
| |
Underlying operating cash flow3 | 87.4 | 91.8 | £(4.4)m |
Free cash flow4 | 3.0 | 0.8 | £2.2m |
Net debt5 | 159.0 | 113.1 | £45.9m |
Dividend per share | 1.00p | 2.60p | (1.60)p |
Financial performance
· | Stable revenue performance with improving mix |
o Revenue of £416.1m (FY2025: £416.6m), demonstrates resilience: | |
§ Growth with National customers offsets softer general hire volumes. | |
§ Contribution from ProService activity. | |
o Revenue (excluding fuel) increased by 3.6% on FY2025, to £400.3m. | |
o Hire revenues broadly stable, with mix shift toward large scale, multi-year contracts. | |
o Services revenues (excluding fuel) increased 4.9% on FY2025, led by Customer Solutions and TIC services. | |
o Fuel revenues down year on year due to lower sales volumes and the transition to a third-party fuel fulfilment model in FY2026, on which the Group take only a margin element. | |
o Disposals revenue of £10.9m (FY2025: £3.6m), predominantly the result of planned divestment of specialist compressors in the period. | |
· | Margins and profitability impacted by targeted investment and market conditions. |
o Adjusted EBITDA1 of £85.4m (FY2025: £97.1m), margin of 20.5% (FY2025: 23.3%), the result of: | |
§ Operational gearing in lower volume environment. | |
§ Wage inflation (including national living wage and national insurance). | |
o Adjusted loss before tax1 of £9.8m (FY2025: £8.7m profit), reflecting higher interest costs following accelerated hire fleet investment and the ProService Transaction. | |
o Adjusted EPS2 of (1.71)pence (FY2025: 1.41pence). | |
· | Leverage reflects strategic investment including ProService |
o Net debt5 of £159.0m (FY2025: £113.1m), in line with expectations o Underlying operating cash flow3 remained strong with 102.3% cash conversion from EBITDA1 (FY2025: 94.5%) and positive free cash flow4 of £3m (FY2025 £0.8m) | |
o Leverage6 of 3.3x, temporarily above target range. | |
o Meaningful deleveraging expected over 12-24 months, supported by strong cash generation. | |
· | Disciplined capital allocation and dividend rebasing. |
o Proposed final dividend of 0.70 pence per share, resulting in full year dividend of 1.00pps (FY2025: 2.60pps), in line with previous guidance. | |
o Commitment to progressive dividend growth from FY2027, with the intention to return to historic levels in line with expected earnings after FY2028. |
Current trading and outlook
· | New financial year has started well, with revenue to the end of May 2026 c.2% ahead of the prior year. |
· | Adjusted EBITDA1 for the same period c.13% up on last year, reflecting high operational gearing and disciplined cost control. |
· | Previously announced customer led delays are resolving and the related projects will contribute meaningfully in the first half. |
· | Speedy Hire remains well placed for the long-term with a reshaped business model and a stronger operational platform, positioned to capitalise on current and future growth opportunities, particularly when market conditions improve. |
· | Speedy Hire reconfirms market guidance8 for FY2027. |
Enquiries:
Speedy Hire Plc Tel: 01942 720 000
Dan Evans, Chief Executive
Paul Rayner, Chief Financial Officer
Teneo Tel: 020 7427 5494
Giles Kernick
Analyst and investor presentations
Dan Evans, CEO, and Paul Rayner, CFO, will host a presentation and Q&A for analysts today at 9:30am at the offices of Canaccord Genuity, 88 Wood Street, London, England, EC2V 7QR. For further information please contact SpeedyHire@teneo.com
Management will also be hosting an Investor Presentation and Q&A with Equity Development. The online event will be hosted by Dan Evans, CEO, and Paul Rayner, CFO, and will begin at 1:00pm on Thursday 18 June. The registration link to sign up for the webinar is: https://www.equitydevelopment.co.uk/news-and-events/speedy-hire-investor-presentation-fy-results-18th-june-2026
Notes:
Explanatory notes:
The Group believes that the non-GAAP performance measures presented in this announcement provide valuable additional information
for readers. Further details can be found in notes 6, 8 and 12.
1 See note 8.
2 See note 6.
3 Underlying operating cash flow: Cash generated from operations before changes in hire fleet and non-underlying items.
4 Free cash flow: Net cash flow before movement in borrowings, merger and acquisition activity, corporate activity and returns to shareholders.
5 See note 12. This metric excludes lease liabilities.
6 Leverage: Net debt5 to EBITDA1. This metric excludes the impact of IFRS 16. This differs from the methodology used in the Group's banking covenants, which include certain additional EBITDA adjustments, and is therefore not directly comparable to covenant leverage.
7 On 6 October 2025 the Company's subsidiary Speedy Asset Services Limited ("SASL") entered into a comprehensive commercial hire and services supply agreement with HSS ProService Limited ("ProService"), a subsidiary of ProService Building Services Marketplace plc ("ProService plc") ("Commercial Agreement") and ProService plc's subsidiary at that time, HSS Service Group Limited, agreed to sell certain assets to SASL and ProService plc agreed to issue to the Company 79,368,711 of its shares (together the "ProService Transaction").
8 Market expectations for FY2027 refer to the analyst consensus compiled by the Company, which as at the date of this announcement stands at Revenue of £475.3m and adjusted EBITDA of £117.3m.
Inside Information: This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the Market Abuse Regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014) as it forms part of domestic law in the United Kingdom by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
Forward looking statements: The information in this release is based on management information. This report includes statements that are forward looking in nature. Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Group to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Except as required by the Listing Rules and applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update, revise or change any forward looking statements to reflect events or developments occurring after the date of this report.
Notes to Editors: Founded in 1977, Speedy Hire is the UK's leading provider of tools and equipment hire services to a wide range of customers in the construction, infrastructure, industrial, and support services markets, as well as to local trade, and retail. The Group provides complementary support services through the provision of training, asset management and compliance services. Speedy is certified nationally to ISO50001, ISO9001, ISO14001, ISO17020*, ISO27001 and ISO45001. The Group operates from 128 Service Centres and on-site locations across the UK and Ireland and through a joint venture in Kazakhstan. *Lloyds British National Contracts only.
Chairman's Statement
Overview
The Group's results for FY2026 are set against a backdrop of continued macro‑economic uncertainty and subdued activity levels across some of our end markets. Despite this challenging environment we remain committed to our investment plans and the Board is pleased with the strategic and operational progress delivered during the final year of the Enable phase of our Velocity strategy. These actions support future efficiencies and have reshaped the business, strengthening our operational platform and positioning Speedy Hire to capitalise on current and future growth opportunities particularly when market conditions improve.
A defining milestone in the year was the transformational Commercial Agreement7 entered into with ProService7. This agreement represents a material strategic step forward for Speedy Hire, broadening our addressable market, accelerating the evolution of our hire fleet and enhancing the Group's long‑term earnings profile. Importantly, it demonstrates the value of the technological and operational investments made over recent years and reinforces the Board's confidence in the strategic direction of the Group, as we move into the Deliver phase of our Velocity strategy.
Results
Group revenue for the year was impacted by the continued softness in our markets; however we continued to gain market share, particularly within our National customer base, securing several significant multi-year contracts. This resulted in an adjusted loss before tax1 of £9.8m (FY2025: £8.7m profit), reflecting the downside of high operational gearing and elevated financing costs following targeted investment to support new business, with benefits from these actions expected to build over time.
Despite these short‑term pressures, underlying operating cash flow3 remained strong, demonstrating the resilience of the Group's business model and supporting the Board's confidence in future deleveraging.
The Group continues to operate internationally through its joint venture in Kazakhstan. Recently, a new multi-year contract has been secured with our partner to replace the previously completed contracts, giving confidence for growth in this geography.
ProService
The ProService Transaction7 represents a transformational step for Speedy Hire. The Commercial Agreement is closely aligned to the Group's strategy, enhancing the utilisation of our existing asset base and providing a platform for sustainable growth over the medium-term. This deal was only made possible by the investment in our technology and operational platform under the Velocity Strategy.
Initial trading since completion in November 2025 has been encouraging, with integration progressing positively. This supports our unchanged expectations of £50-55m of annualised revenue and significant earnings accretion in the first full year post‑integration. The Commercial Agreement also enables accelerated rationalisation and evolution of the Group's hire fleet, reducing future capital intensity and enhancing returns over the medium-term.
The ProService Transaction was funded through the Group's existing resources and recently refinanced facilities. While leverage has temporarily increased beyond the Group's target range, the Board remains confident that strong cash generation will support meaningful deleveraging over the next 12-24 months.
Capital allocation and dividend
During the year, the Board reaffirmed its disciplined capital allocation framework, balancing investment for long‑term growth with sustainable returns to shareholders. In light of the ProService Transaction, the Board reaffirmed a target leverage6 range of 1.0x-2.0x EBITDA through the cycle, with flexibility for short‑term deviation where strategic opportunities justify it.
Speedy Hire understands the importance of dividend payments to its shareholders and, in line with the previously announced dividend rebasing to help fund the ProService Transaction, the Board is recommending a final dividend of 0.70 pence per share for FY2026, bringing the total dividend for the year to 1.00 pence per share. It continues to be our intention to grow this by at least 5% per annum for each of FY2027 and FY2028, returning to historical levels in line with earnings thereafter.
Board and people
During the year, Rob Barclay stepped down as a Non‑Executive Director, having served on the Board since 2016. On behalf of the Board, I would again like to thank Rob for his significant contribution, including his leadership of the Remuneration and Sustainability Committees.
As previously announced, David Garman will step down from the Board at the forthcoming AGM, and Rhian Bartlett assumed the role of Senior Independent Director following the 2025 AGM. I would like to thank David for his wise counsel and significant contribution to the Board throughout his tenure and wish him well for the future.
In March 2026, the Company announced a planned succession in the role of Chief Financial Officer. Paul Rayner indicated that he would be retiring from executive life and would step down from his role following an orderly handover period, with Judith Cottrell being appointed to the Board with effect from 1 July 2026 and Paul stepping down from the Board on that date. Succession planning had been ongoing for some time and the Board is confident that this transition will ensure continuity, discipline and strong financial leadership as the Group enters the next phase of its Velocity strategy. On behalf of the Board and personally I would like to thank Paul for his dedication and commitment to the business and wish him well in his non-executive life.
On behalf of the Board and personally, I would like to thank each and every one of my colleagues across the Group for their continuing commitment and dedication throughout what has been a challenging year for the business.
Future
As Speedy Hire enters the Deliver phase of its Velocity strategy, the Board is encouraged by the quality and multi-year scale of the Group's contract base; the momentum from the ProService Transaction and the increasing resilience and flexibility of the Group's operating model. The Board also recognises the uncertain global geopolitical landscape and continues to assess any potential implications for the Group. At this time, we have not identified or observed any significant effects on our operations and will maintain close oversight and react swiftly as circumstances dictate. Initial trading in FY2027 has shown growth alongside the benefit of high operational gearing and we look forward with increasing confidence in the Group's ability to deliver sustainable growth and value creation over the medium-term.
David Shearer
Chairman
Chief Executive's Statement
Overview
The financial year ended 31 March 2026 was an important year for Speedy Hire as we completed the Enable phase of our Velocity strategy and strengthened the foundations of the Group for growth. This progress was delivered against a challenging economic backdrop, which continued to influence customer behaviour and market conditions throughout the year.
Our focus remains on disciplined execution. We are concentrating on improving the efficiency and resilience of the business, embedding the systems, reporting, data and AI capabilities needed to support scalable growth, while maintaining strong operational control. Although demand remained mixed, the Group made clear strategic progress and enters FY2027 well positioned for growth.
Trading performance and market conditions
Market conditions remained challenging throughout FY2026, with widely reported delays to project starts and cautious customer behaviour continuing to impact overall activity levels, particularly affecting our Regional customer base. Against this backdrop, we made good progress in gaining market share, particularly with National customers, securing significant long‑term framework agreements, including Thames Water, which are expected to provide incremental growth as mobilisations progress.
Our Trade and Retail operations remained profitable, although demand was constrained by weaker market conditions. We continue to evaluate expansion opportunities in this channel, consistent with our Velocity strategy, and remain encouraged by the underlying customer engagement and long‑term potential of the model. We also serve a number of these customers, through the ProService Commercial Agreement7, again demonstrating the business' evolution and capability to serve customers through an alternate technology channel made possible by our Velocity strategy.
Speedy Hire's national scale, specialist capabilities and operational flexibility continued to be important differentiators. Our ability to support customers across large, complex projects while maintaining responsive local service enabled us to remain closely aligned to customer needs.
During the year, we took the opportunity to restructure our Lloyds British business, bringing in new management and disposing of the loss-making manufacturing part of the business. This has resulted in sharper focus on the growth of our higher margin TIC business.
Our joint venture in Kazakhstan experienced a continuation of the downturn in performance due to the conclusion of major contracts. These contracts have however been replaced by new, long-term contracts secured with our partner, giving confidence for future growth.
Strategy
FY2026 marked the completion of the Enable phase of our Velocity strategy delivered on time and on budget. Over the last three years, we have invested c.£20m in transforming the business, focused on strengthening the operating platform, modernising our systems, improving efficiency and leveraging data to drive enhanced customer service visibility, operational control and readiness for capitalising on growth opportunities.
During the year, we completed the rollout of a number of major digital and operational initiatives, including customer relationship management, customer service workflows, transport and logistics optimisation and the modernisation of our telephony and engineering platforms, as well as the launch of our new trading website. These changes are improving operational visibility and efficiency, supporting better decision‑making and delivering a more consistent experience for customers and colleagues.
Importantly, the work completed during the Enable phase provides a stable and scalable foundation from which to drive growth, while maintaining the operational discipline required in uncertain market conditions. We are excited to move forward into the Deliver phase of the strategy in FY2027, focussing now on delivering long-term sustainable growth.
Commercial Agreement with ProService
We were delighted to announce completion of the ProService Transaction7, under which Speedy Hire has secured a right of first refusal to supply ProService7 with core hire equipment and testing, inspection and certification services through our Lloyds British business. The ProService Transaction also included the transfer of certain assets, the assignment of new service centres and an equity investment in ProService plc7.
The Commercial Agreement represents a transformational milestone for Speedy Hire and is a direct outcome of the enabling investments made under the Velocity strategy, particularly in technology, data, AI and operational capability. The transaction also accelerates the evolution of our hire fleet, supporting a more efficient capital profile over the medium-term while enhancing the service offering available to customers across both organisations.
Mobilisation has progressed in line with expectations, with a view to contributing £50-55m of annualised revenue and significant earnings accretion in FY2027, the first full financial year following a period of integration. Speedy Hire also still anticipates a full payback of the consideration from operating cash flow in two to three years, excluding any potential cash returned from its interest in ProService plc. As volumes increase and additional services are introduced, namely the planned inclusion of Lloyds British TIC services being made available to ProService customers, revenues under the Commercial Agreement are expected to become an increasingly important contributor to Group performance.
Overall, the Commercial Agreement marks a step‑change in scale through a new customer channel for Speedy Hire and gives early momentum to the Deliver phase, offering clear validation of the Velocity strategy and demonstrating the strength and adaptability of our operating model.
Customers, channels and growth focus
Beyond ProService, our priorities remain unchanged. We continue to focus on sectors aligned with long‑term national investment, including infrastructure, energy, rail, water and regulated utilities, where demand is supported by multi‑year programmes and where our scale and specialist capability are most relevant.
Our operating model continues to evolve in order to best serve our customer demands. Customers increasingly expect flexibility in how they access hire and services, and our combination of service centres, on‑site solutions, digital platforms and partnerships positions us well to meet their expectations while maintaining a consistent and reliable proposition.
People, safety and sustainability
Our people remain central to the delivery of our strategy. Through our People First approach, we continue to invest in colleague engagement, skills development and leadership capability, supporting a culture rooted in safety, accountability and performance.
Safety is a core value across the Group and fundamental to how we operate. Ongoing investment in training, systems and fleet technology continues to strengthen our safety culture, supporting continuous improvement and reinforcing trust with colleagues, customers and communities.
Sustainability is also an integral part of our strategy and customer proposition. Demand for lower‑emission, compliant and efficient solutions continues to grow, particularly across infrastructure and energy markets. Our expanding eco fleet and the development of our carbon and nature reporting capabilities support customers in meeting their sustainability objectives, while reinforcing Speedy Hire's position as a responsible and reliable partner, with commercially sustainable solutions.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all colleagues for their continued hard work and dedication to the business, whilst continuing to deliver a first-class service to our customers.
Outlook
The new financial year has started well, with secured contracts mobilising as anticipated and trading in line with the market expectations. At this early stage, revenues to the end of May are c.2% ahead of the comparative period. Previously announced customer led delays are resolving and the related projects will contribute meaningfully during the first half. Adjusted EBITDA1 for the same period is c.13% ahead, the direct result of the effect of operational gearing and disciplined cost control.
While near‑term market conditions remain uncertain, particularly in light of global geopolitical events, the strategic progress made and contracts secured in FY2026, mean the Group enters FY2027 with a solid foundation for scalable growth as we move into the next phase of our Velocity strategy. With a strengthened operating platform, a disciplined approach to capital allocation and a clear strategic focus, the Group is well positioned to deliver sustainable long‑term value for shareholders and wider stakeholders.
Dan Evans
Chief Executive
Chief Financial Officer's Review
Group financial performance
Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2026 was £416.1m (FY2025: £416.6m), reflecting subdued hire volumes with our Regional customers, offset by resilient performance from National customers and the Commercial Agreement7 with ProService7. Trade and Retail revenue increased year on year, although growth remained below initial expectations given market conditions. Revenue from planned disposals of hire equipment were £10.9m (FY2025: £3.6m), primarily associated with the divestment of specialist compressors.
During the year, the Group undertook depot closures and management restructuring to optimise the operating footprint and reduce the underlying cost base, supporting future efficiency gains, with annualised cost savings of c.£5.0m expected.
Gross profit was £230.5m (FY2025: £236.1m), with gross margin of 55.4% (FY2025: 56.7%), impacted by a decrease in average hire rates and margin in our Customer Solutions business following the high value transaction with ProService.
Adjusted EBITDA1 for the year was £85.4m (FY2025: £97.1m), after accounting for non-cash share based payments of £1.8m (FY2025: £0.9m), and the Group reported an adjusted loss before taxation1 of £9.8m (FY2025: £8.7m profit). Performance reflects high operational gearing in a subdued revenue environment alongside increased financing costs following investment to support the ProService Transaction7 and contracts won.
After non‑underlying items, the Group reported a loss after taxation of £26.6m (FY2025: £1.1m loss).
Early trading in FY2027 has been promising with revenue and adjusted EBITDA to the end of May, c.2% and c.13% ahead of FY2026 respectively, with adjusted EBITDA significantly benefitting from high operational gearing as marginal movements in hire revenue have a disproportionately large impact on profitability.
Revenue and margin analysis
The Group generates revenue through two categories, Hire and Services.
Revenue and margin by type | Year ended | Year ended | Change |
31 March | 31 March | ||
2026 | 2025 | ||
£m | £m | % | |
Hire: |
|
| |
Revenue | 255.3 | 255.0 | 0.1% |
Cost of sales | (52.4) | (49.7) |
|
Gross profit | 202.9 | 205.3 | (1.2)% |
Gross margin | 79.5% | 80.5% |
|
|
Revenue and margin by type | Year ended | Year ended | Change |
31 March | 31 March | ||
2026 | 2025 | ||
£m | £m | % | |
Services: |
|
| |
Revenue | 149.9 | 158.0 | (5.1)% |
Cost of sales | (123.3) | (126.7) |
|
Gross profit | 26.6 | 31.3 | (15.0)% |
Gross margin | 17.7% | 19.8% |
|
Hire revenues were held back by a challenging market. A strong performance with our National customers offset some volume decline in our Regional customer base while average rates have declined due to the significant increase in volume activity with ProService and mix with our National customers.
Services revenues (excluding fuel) increased 4.9% on FY2025, driven by growth in both Customer Solutions and Lloyds British TIC services. Divestment of the manufacturing division of Lloyds British represents a revenue loss of £3.6m from FY2025, with negligible profit impact.
During the year, the Group entered into a commercial agreement for third party fuel order fulfilment, on which the Group recognise only a margin element. As a result, fuel revenues declined by 47.5% (£14.3m decrease from FY2025), although with a minimal gross profit impact.
The Group continues to monitor pricing, introducing increases to mitigate the effects of cost inflation on both overheads and new equipment purchases.
Gross margin decreased by 1.3pp to 55.4% (FY2025: 56.7%). Hire margin decreased to 79.5%, the result of lower average hire rates following the ProService Transaction. Services margin decreased to 17.7%, due to a higher proportion of lower margin Customer Solutions revenue.
Utilisation of itemised assets was 55.4% (FY2025: 53.9%), an increase of 1.5pp on FY2025 benefitting from the additional activity through ProService.
Overheads
The overheads (excluding non-underlying items) disclosed in the Income Statement can be further analysed as follows:
| Year ended | Year ended | |
31 March | 31 March | ||
2026 | 2025 | Change | |
£m | £m | % | |
| |||
Distribution and administrative costs | 220.8 | 210.5 | 4.9% |
Amortisation - acquired intangibles | (1.6) | (0.6) | 166.7% |
Underlying Overheads | 219.2 | 209.9 | 4.4% |
|
Disciplined cost management remains a key priority, balanced against the need to invest in the business to enable growth as part of our Velocity strategy. Underlying overheads increased by £9.3m (4.4%) year on year, with over one third of this attributable to the increase in national insurance and national living wage costs, with the majority of the remainder being the net increase in costs taken on as part of the ProService Transaction.
We have observed an improvement in bad debts during the year, which has resulted in a reduction in the impairment of trade receivables to £2.1m (FY2025: £2.6m), although we remain mindful of ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.
Closing headcount was 0.8% higher than March 2025, with average headcount 0.5% lower due to transformation and restructuring initiatives undertaken in the year, offset by the net increase of colleagues joining the business from TUPE transfers in and out as part of the ProService Transaction.
| 2026 | 2025 | Change % |
|
|
| |
Headcount at year end | 3,335 | 3,307 | 0.8% |
Average headcount during the year | 3,318 | 3,335 | (0.5)% |
Non-underlying items
| Year ended | Year ended |
31 March | 31 March | |
2026 | 2025 | |
£m | £m | |
| ||
Transformation costs | 6.3 | 6.6 |
Restructuring | 3.6 | 1.2 |
Business disposal | 2.8 | - |
Other professional and support costs | 4.9 | 1.8 |
Total | 17.6 | 9.6 |
FY2026 represents the third and final year of the Enable phase of our Velocity strategy. Incremental costs in respect of the investment in implementing this strategy, and executing our transformation programme, represent a significant cost to the business over the initial phases of the programme. This resulted in non-underlying costs in the year of £6.3m (FY2025: £6.6m). As communicated in the FY2024 annual report, we signalled that the total expected cost of the Enable phase of Transformation was anticipated to be between £19m and £22m, of which £13m to £15m was expected to be non-underlying. The total reported costs relating to the Enable phase are £20.5m, of which £16.1m were treated as non-underlying. Given the conclusion of the Enable strategic phase, there will be no further transformation related non-underlying items during FY2027, representing a significant cash saving in future years.
An additional £3.6m relates to restructuring undertaken as part of the Velocity transformation programme. These actions were accelerated by the conclusion of the Enable phase of transformation and the completion of the ProService Transaction and concerned the execution of the remaining, significant, "Future State" activities, resulting in the closure of 13 locations, and a related reduction in headcount. In addition, changes to key management and support structures have been implemented to align the organisation to the Group's long-term operating model, resulting in further headcount reduction. Collectively, these actions are expected to deliver annualised cost savings of c.£5.0m and have streamlined the business, creating a more efficient platform to support growth.
In August 2025 the Group disposed of the non-core manufacturing division of Lloyds British, generating a loss on disposal of £2.6m, presented within non-underlying items due to the infrequent nature of such transactions. Restructuring of the Lloyds British business followed, resulting in £0.2m of additional costs.
Following the completion of the ProService Transaction on 17 November 2025, third party advisors were engaged to assist in a valuation exercise to allocate the consideration paid. This resulted in the initial recognition of the following items, the most significant of which related to the Right of First Refusal ("ROFR") within the Commercial Agreement:
| |
Initial recognition | |
£m | |
Investment in ProService Building Services Marketplace Plc (9.99%) | 7.1 |
Hire fleet assets | 16.3 |
Intangible asset (ROFR) | 19.5 |
Provisions (including deferred tax) | (6.0) |
Total | 36.9 |
Overall, the above results in a gain on bargain purchase of £0.1m, which is presented within non-underlying items. Following initial recognition, depreciation and amortisation are charged on the hire fleet assets and intangible asset respectively and the investment in ProService plc7 is revalued at each balance sheet date, with fair value movements going through the profit and loss account. Further information is included in note 16.
Further to the above, but separate from the consideration paid, significant legal and professional costs have been incurred relating to the ProService Transaction. These have been presented as non-underlying items owing to the scale and rarity of a transaction such as this. Such costs were £5.0m in FY2026.
Further detail on non-underlying items can be found in note 3.
Interest and banking facilities
| Year ended | Year ended |
31 March | 31 March | |
2026 | 2025 | |
£m | £m | |
| ||
Interest on borrowings | 11.4 | 9.5 |
Interest on lease liabilities | 7.5 | 6.4 |
Other finance income | (0.3) | - |
Total | 18.6 | 15.9 |
The Group's finance costs increased to £18.6m (FY2025: £15.9m). Excluding interest on lease liabilities, the net financial expense was £11.1m (FY2025: £9.5m) reflecting higher average gross borrowings following the completion of the ProService Transaction and continued investment in our hire fleet to support growth in our existing and more recently won contracts.
The Group's facilities of £225.0m comprise a £150.0m revolving credit facility ("RCF") and a £75.0m private placement term loan. The refinancing replaced the Group's prior £180.0m asset based lending facility. The RCF has a three year maturity with options to extend up to a further two years and the private placement term loan has a seven year maturity. The RCF is priced based on SONIA plus a variable margin, while any unutilised commitment is charged at 35% of the applicable margin. The price on the private placement term loan is fixed for the duration of the facility. During the period, the margin payable on the outstanding debt fluctuated between 2.20% and 2.70%. The effective average margin in the period was 2.42% (FY2025: 2.14%).
The Group's financing facilities include quarterly leverage6 and fixed charge cover covenant tests. In preparation for entering into the ProService Transaction, the Group agreed short-term amendments to the fixed charge cover covenant for the quarters ended 30 September 2025 and 31 December 2025, subsequent to which the covenants reverted to their original levels. Further, short-term, amendments were agreed to both covenant tests prior to the year end, in anticipation of slower deleveraging than originally anticipated. The covenant tests for quarterly leverage and fixed charge cover return to their original levels at September 2026 and December 2026 respectively.
The Group utilises interest rate hedges to manage risk associated with movements in interest rates. As a result of the refinancing, the fixed interest term loan limits the Group's exposure to significant fluctuations in rates, therefore reducing hedging requirements. The fair value of interest rate hedges was £nil at 31 March 2026 (FY2025: £0.1m liability).
Interest on lease liabilities of £7.5m (FY2025: £6.4m) was charged during the period, impacted by sizeable
property lease extensions and new vehicle leases during the period.
Taxation
The Group seeks to protect its reputation as a responsible taxpayer and adopts an appropriate attitude to arranging its tax affairs, aiming to ensure effective, sustainable and active management of tax matters in support of business performance.
The tax credit for the year was £5.7m (FY2025: £0.4m credit), with an effective tax rate of 17.6% (FY2025: 26.7%). Adjusting for the impact of non-underlying items, amortisation of acquired intangibles and fair value movements on financial assets, the effective tax rate for FY2026 was 18.4% (FY2025: 24.1%).
Shares and earnings per share
At 31 March 2026, 516,983,637 Speedy Hire Plc ordinary shares were outstanding (FY2025: 516,983,637), of which 55,141,657 were held in Treasury (FY2025: 55,141,657), with 802,874 held in the Employee Benefit Trust (FY2025: 1,329,911).
Adjusted loss per share2 was 1.71 pence (FY2025: 1.41 pence (earnings)). Basic loss per share2 was 5.77 pence (FY2025: 0.24 pence).
Balance sheet
Total capital expenditure during the year, excluding the investment made as part of the ProService Transaction, was £56.3m (FY2025: £63.2m), reflecting a year on year reduction in response to challenging market conditions and acknowledging the significant investment made in our hire fleet over the past few years, particularly in specialist product categories.
Hire fleet additions in the year were £53.0m (FY2025: £57.5m). Of our investment in hire fleet, 67% related to carbon efficient eco products (FY2025: 71%) as we continue to support customers with their decarbonisation strategies. Expenditure on non-hire property, plant and equipment of £3.3m (FY2025: £5.7m) represents continued investment in our properties and IT capabilities.
Total proceeds from disposal of hire equipment were £19.6m (FY2025: £13.2m). This was driven primarily by the planned divestment of specialist compressors, as part of the overall project to bring greater focus to our fleet of owned assets.
The Group's hire fleet, including those assets acquired as part of the ProService Transaction, is well invested and therefore requires a lower level of investment during FY2027. We anticipate gross hire fleet capex in the region of £35.0m for FY2027, a year on year reduction of 34.0%, with the primary focus being on core equipment and certain specialist products.
Net property, plant and equipment (excluding IFRS 16 right of use assets) was £257.4m as at 31 March 2025 (FY2025: £243.3m), of which equipment for hire represents 93.0% (FY2025: 91.4%).
Intangible assets increased significantly to £56.0m (FY2025: £38.4m), due to the addition of the ROFR intangible asset, marginally offset by amortisation.
Right of use assets of £108.8m (FY2025: £104.2m) and corresponding lease liabilities of £114.4m (FY2025: £105.9m) have increased due to extensions on strategically important property leases and new vehicle leases to support the move to a lower carbon fleet, which were offset in part by planned depot closures and consolidations.
Gross trade receivables increased to £108.7m at 31 March 2026 (FY2025: £97.9m), the result of increased trading in the final quarter with ProService. Bad debt and credit note provisions were £4.0m as at 31 March 2026 (FY2025: £2.9m), equivalent to 3.7% of gross trade receivables (FY2025: 3.0%). In setting the provisions the Directors have given specific consideration to the impact of macro-economic uncertainties. Whilst the Group has not experienced a significant worsening of debt collections or debt write-offs to 31 March 2026, there remain some indications of continued economic vulnerability and risk of insolvencies and therefore we continue to monitor the situation closely.
Debtor days as at 31 March 2026 were 71 days (FY2025: 66 days, HY2026: 62 days). Trade payables as at 31 March 2026 were £76.0m (FY2025: £54.1m). Creditor days were 78 days (FY2025: 61 days, HY2026: 69 days), the result of continued collaboration with suppliers to more closely align our working capital cycle and the negotiation of favourable terms for some significant hire fleet capex purchases.
Cash flow and net debt
Underlying operating cash flow3 for the year was £87.4m (FY2025: £91.8m), representing 102.3% (FY2025: 94.5%) conversion from EBITDA. Free cash flow4 is a key metric for the Group and in the year was £3.0m (FY2025: £0.8m), the result of necessary effective working capital management and reduced hire fleet investment to offset continued investment in our transformation programme and softer trading performance.
Net debt5 increased by £45.9m from £113.1m at the beginning of the year to £159.0m at 31 March 2026, due to the investment made as part of the ProService Transaction. As a result, leverage6 increased to 3.3 times (FY2025: 1.9 times), which is temporarily outside of the Group's target range communicated as part of the FY2025 annual results. This follows the continued investment in the hire fleet, transformation of the business (including the ProService Transaction) and returns to shareholders during the year. Total net debt, including lease liabilities, was £273.4m (FY2025: £219.0m), resulting in post IFRS 16 leverage of 3.2 times (FY2025: 2.3 times).
The Group maintained compliance with its banking covenants and retained substantial headroom within its committed bank facility, with cash and undrawn facility availability of £36.0m as at 31 March 2026 (FY2025: £42.0m).
Capital allocation policy
The Board is committed to maintaining an efficient balance sheet and regularly reviews the Group's capital resources and allocation policy to ensure that it meets our strategic objectives. We have a clear capital allocation approach to ensure a balance between investment in the business for long-term sustainable success and the creation of returns to shareholders.
Our disciplined approach to capital allocation through the business cycle reflects the following objectives:
- | Aim to use debt funding to support investment in capital equipment. The business is currently well invested with a fleet age profile at the younger end of our peer group in the market. This allows flexibility to manage debt levels through any downturn in the economic cycle by reducing capital investment and allowing the fleet age profile to lengthen, leading to a reduction in debt without impacting our ability to meet the service needs of customers. This flexibility was evidenced during the pandemic in FY2021. In view of the ability to use this lever, we aim to manage core debt levels within a target range of 1.0 to 2.0 times EBITDA through the cycle. We will permit debt levels to move outside these parameters in circumstances where we have specific short-term investment requirements for new growth opportunities ahead of earnings being generated, such as the ProService Transaction entered into during the year. Our debt facilities offer the flexibility to support this approach; |
- | We aim to provide regular returns to shareholders through the economic cycle by way of annual dividends. The Board will look to maintain the dividend during any downturn in the cycle given the ability to manage cash generation and target to grow dividends from the current base in line with earnings growth; |
- | In the event of major strategic projects or opportunities such as acquisitions we will make a specific assessment of the funding requirement and structure of financing at that time; |
- | In the event of significant excess capital, the Board will look at the appropriate way to enhance returns to shareholders. |
The Board continues to believe that a strong balance sheet through the cycle will allow the Group to take full advantage of opportunities that arise.
Dividend
The Board has proposed a final dividend for FY2026 of 0.70 pence per share (FY2025: 1.80 pence per share) to be paid on 2 October 2026 to shareholders on the register on 21 August 2026. This follows the planned reduction in dividend payments for a period up to the end of FY2028, as announced on 6 October 2025, to part fund the ProService Transaction. The Board will then look to return dividends to historical levels in line with future earnings growth.
The cash cost of this dividend is expected to be c.£3.2m. This takes the total dividend for FY2026 to 1.00 pence per share (FY2025: 2.60 pence per share), following an interim dividend of 0.30 pence per share (FY2025: 0.80 pence per share).
A Dividend Reinvestment Plan ("DRIP") is provided by Equiniti Financial Services Limited. The DRIP enables the Company's shareholders to elect to have their cash dividend payments used to purchase the Company's shares. More information can be found at http://www.shareview.co.uk/info/drip
Paul Rayner
Chief Financial Officer
Consolidated Income Statement
for the year ended 31 March 2026
| Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |||||||||
───────────────────── | ───────────────────── | ||||||||||
Underlying performance | Non-underlying items¹ |
Total |
Underlying performance | Non-underlying items¹ |
Total | ||||||
| Note | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | ||||
|
|
|
|
| |||||||
Revenue | 2 | 416.1 | - | 416.1 | 416.6 | - | 416.6 | ||||
|
|
| |||||||||
Cost of sales | (185.6) | - | (185.6) | (180.5) | - | (180.5) | |||||
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ||||||
Gross profit |
| 230.5 | - | 230.5 | 236.1 | - | 236.1 | ||||
|
|
|
|
| |||||||
Distribution and administrative costs |
| (220.8) | (17.6) | (238.4) | (210.5) | (9.6) | (220.1) | ||||
Impairment losses on trade receivables |
| (2.1) | - | (2.1) | (2.6) | - | (2.6) | ||||
Movements on financial assets at fair value through profit and loss | 16 | (3.3) | - | (3.3) | |||||||
| ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |||||
Operating profit/(loss) |
| 4.3 | (17.6) | (13.3) | 23.0 | (9.6) | 13.4 | ||||
|
|
|
| ||||||||
Share of results of joint venture |
| (0.4) | - | (0.4) | 1.0 | - | 1.0 | ||||
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ||||||
Profit/(loss) from operations |
| 3.9 | (17.6) | (13.7) | 24.0 | (9.6) | 14.4 | ||||
|
|
|
|
| |||||||
Finance costs | 4 | (18.6) | - | (18.6) | (15.9) | - | (15.9) | ||||
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ||||||
(Loss)/profit before taxation |
| (14.7) | (17.6) | (32.3) | 8.1 | (9.6) | (1.5) | ||||
|
|
|
|
| |||||||
Taxation | 5 | 3.1 | 2.6 | 5.7 | (2.0) | 2.4 | 0.4 | ||||
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ||||||
(Loss)/profit for the financial year | (11.6) | (15.0) | (26.6) | 6.1 | (7.2) | (1.1) | |||||
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ||||||
Loss per share |
|
|
|
| |||||||
- Basic (pence) | 6 |
|
| (5.77) | (0.24) | ||||||
- Diluted (pence) | 6 |
|
| (5.76) | (0.24) | ||||||
|
| ═════ | ═════ | ||||||||
|
|
|
| ||||||||
|
|
|
| ||||||||
Non-GAAP performance measures |
| ||||||||||
Adjusted EBITDA | 8 |
| 85.4 | 97.1 | |||||||
Adjusted operating profit | 8 |
| 11.9 | 26.8 | |||||||
Adjusted (loss)/profit before tax | 8 |
| (9.8) | 8.7 | |||||||
Adjusted (loss)/earnings per share (pence) | 6 |
| (1.71) | 1.41 | |||||||
═════ | ═════ | ||||||||||
¹ Detail on non-underlying items is provided in note 3.
All activities in each period presented related to continuing operations.
Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income
for the year ended 31 March 2026
|
| Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |
| £m | £m | ||
|
|
| ||
Loss for the financial year |
|
| (26.6) | (1.1) |
| ───── | ───── | ||
Other comprehensive income/(expense) that may be reclassified subsequently to the Income Statement: |
|
|
| |
- Effective portion of change in fair value of cash flow hedges |
|
| 0.5 | (0.6) |
- Exchange difference on translation of foreign operations |
|
| - | (0.7) |
- Tax on items |
|
| (0.1) | 0.1 |
| ───── | ───── | ||
Other comprehensive income/(expense) |
|
| 0.4 | (1.2) |
| ───── | ───── | ||
Total comprehensive (expense)/income for the financial year |
| (26.2) | 2.3 | |
|
|
| ═════ | ═════ |
Consolidated Balance Sheet
as at 31 March 2026
Note |
| 31 March 2026 | 31 March 2025 | |
ASSETS |
| £m | £m | |
Non-current assets |
|
| ||
Intangible assets | 9 |
| 56.0 | 38.4 |
Investment in joint ventures |
|
| 5.0 | 5.7 |
Property, plant and equipment |
|
|
| |
Land and buildings | 10 |
| 12.7 | 15.0 |
Hire equipment | 10 |
| 239.4 | 222.4 |
Other | 10 |
| 5.3 | 5.9 |
Right of use assets | 11 | 108.8 | 104.2 | |
Other financial assets | 16 | 3.8 | - | |
| ───── | ───── | ||
|
| 431.0 | 391.6 | |
| ───── | ───── | ||
Current assets |
| |||
Inventories |
|
| 10.2 | 11.2 |
Trade and other receivables |
|
| 118.0 | 105.2 |
Cash and cash equivalents | 12 |
| 14.4 | 2.1 |
Current tax asset |
|
| 0.9 | 2.9 |
Derivative financial assets |
|
| 0.5 | - |
| ───── | ───── | ||
|
|
| 144.0 | 121.4 |
| ───── | ───── | ||
Total assets |
|
| 575.0 | 513.0 |
| ───── | ───── | ||
LIABILITIES |
|
|
| |
Current liabilities |
|
|
| |
Borrowings | 12 |
| - | (2.3) |
Lease liabilities | 13 |
| (27.9) | (25.0) |
Trade and other payables |
|
| (137.6) | (106.9) |
Derivative financial liabilities |
|
| - | (0.1) |
Provisions | 14 |
| (4.0) | (6.1) |
| ───── | ───── | ||
|
| (169.5) | (140.4) | |
|
|
| ||
Non-current liabilities |
|
|
| |
Borrowings | 12 |
| (173.4) | (112.9) |
Lease liabilities | 13 |
| (86.5) | (80.9) |
Provisions | 14 |
| (9.3) | (8.0) |
Deferred tax liability |
|
| (8.3) | (8.6) |
| ───── | ───── | ||
|
| (277.5) | (210.4) | |
| ───── | ───── | ||
Total liabilities |
|
| (447.0) | (350.8) |
| ───── | ───── | ||
Net assets |
|
| 128.0 | 162.2 |
|
| ═════ | ═════ | |
EQUITY |
|
|
| |
Share capital | 15 |
| 25.8 | 25.8 |
Share premium |
|
| 1.9 | 1.9 |
Capital redemption reserve |
|
| 0.7 | 0.7 |
Merger reserve |
|
| 1.0 | 1.0 |
Hedging reserve |
|
| 0.1 | (0.4) |
Translation reserve |
|
| (2.2) | (2.2) |
Retained earnings |
|
| 100.7 | 135.4 |
| ───── | ───── | ||
Total equity |
|
| 128.0 | 162.2 |
|
| ═════ | ═════ |
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity
for the year ended 31 March 2026
| Share capital | Share premium | Capital redemption reserve | Merger reserve | Hedging reserve |
Translation reserve | Retained Earnings | Total equity | |
Note | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | |
|
| ||||||||
At 1 April 2024 |
| 25.8 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.2 | (1.5) | 147.6 | 175.7 |
Loss for the year |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | (1.1) | (1.1) |
Other comprehensive (expense)/income |
| - | - | - | - | (0.6) | (0.7) | 0.1 | (1.2) |
| ─-----── | ───── | ───── | ──── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
Total comprehensive expense |
| - | - | - | - | (0.6) | (0.7) | (1.0) | (2.3) |
Dividends | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | (11.8) | (11.8) |
Equity-settled share-based payments |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| ─-----── | ───── | ───── | ──── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2025 |
| 25.8 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 1.0 | (0.4) | (2.2) | 135.4 | 162.2 |
Loss for the year |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | (26.6) | (26.6) |
Other comprehensive income/(expense) |
| - | - | - | - | 0.5 | - | (0.1) | 0.4 |
| ─-----── | ───── | ───── | ──── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
Total comprehensive income/(expense) |
| - | - | - | - | 0.5 | - | (26.7) | (26.2) |
Dividends | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | (9.7) | (9.7) |
Equity-settled share-based payments |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| -─── | ───── | ───── | ──── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2026 |
| 25.8 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.1 | (2.2) | 100.7 | 128.0 |
|
| ═══ | ═════ | ═════ | ════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ |
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement
for the year ended 31 March 2026
Note |
| Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |
| £m | £m | ||
Cash generated from operating activities |
|
|
| |
Loss before tax |
|
| (32.3) | (1.5) |
Net finance costs | 4 |
| 18.6 | 15.9 |
Amortisation | 9 |
| 4.3 | 3.8 |
Depreciation | 10,11 |
| 72.2 | 67.6 |
Non-underlying items | 3 |
| 17.6 | 9.6 |
Movements in fair value on financial assets | 16 |
| 3.3 | - |
Share of loss/(profit) from joint venture |
|
| 0.4 | (1.0) |
Termination of lease contracts |
|
| (0.1) | - |
Loss on planned disposals of hire equipment |
|
| 1.3 | 2.7 |
Profit on other disposals of hire equipment |
|
| (3.8) | (1.2) |
Loss on disposal of non-hire equipment |
|
| 0.7 | 0.6 |
Decrease in inventories |
|
| 1.0 | 0.7 |
Increase in trade and other receivables |
|
| (13.3) | (2.5) |
Increase/(decrease) in trade and other payables |
|
| 18.2 | (1.2) |
Decrease in provisions | 14 |
| (2.4) | (2.3) |
Equity-settled share-based payments |
|
| 1.7 | 0.6 |
|
|
| ───── | ───── |
Cash generated from operations before changes in hire fleet and non-underlying items |
|
| 87.4 | 91.8 |
Cash flow relating to changes in hire fleet: |
|
| ||
Purchase of hire equipment |
| (45.2) | (50.0) | |
Proceeds from planned sale of hire equipment |
| 10.9 | 3.6 | |
Proceeds from customer loss/damage of hire equipment |
| 8.7 | 9.6 | |
| ───── | ───── | ||
Cash outflow from changes in hire fleet |
| (25.6) | (36.8) | |
Cash flow relating to non-underlying items: |
| |||
Non-underlying items | 3 |
| (17.6) | (9.6) |
Increase in non-underlying payables |
| 7.0 | 3.2 | |
Acquisition fees paid1 |
| (1.7) | - | |
| ───── | ───── | ||
Cash outflow from non-underlying items |
| (12.3) | (6.4) | |
| ||||
───── | ───── | |||
Cash generated from operations |
| 49.5 | 48.6 | |
|
| |||
Interest paid |
| (16.8) | (15.8) | |
Interest received |
| 0.5 | - | |
Tax received |
|
| 3.6 | 0.6 |
───── | ───── | |||
Net cash flow from operating activities |
| 36.8 | 33.4 | |
|
| |||
Cash flow used in investing activities |
|
|
| |
Purchase of non-hire property, plant and equipment |
|
| (3.2) | (5.7) |
Capital expenditure on IT development |
|
| (2.4) | (2.5) |
Purchase of other financial assets1 | 16 |
| (7.1) | - |
Acquisition of business1 | 16 |
| (29.7) | - |
Investment in joint venture (Speedy Hydrogen Solutions) |
|
| - | (0.6) |
Dividends from joint venture2 |
|
| - | 4.2 |
───── | ───── | |||
Net cash flow used in investing activities |
|
| (42.4) | (4.6) |
───── | ───── | |||
Net cash flow before financing activities |
|
| (5.6) | 28.8 |
───── | ───── |
Cash flow from financing activities |
|
|
| |
Payments for the principal element of leases |
|
| (29.9) | (28.6) |
Drawdown of loans |
|
| 395.3 | 534.7 |
Repayment of loans |
|
| (334.2) | (526.1) |
Proceeds received under a payables finance arrangement |
|
| - | 7.2 |
Repayments under a payables finance arrangement |
|
| (2.3) | (4.9) |
Refinancing fees paid |
|
| (1.3) | - |
Dividends paid | 7 |
| (9.7) | (11.8) |
───── | ───── | |||
Net cash flow generated from/(used in) financing activities |
|
| 17.9 | (29.5) |
───── | ───── | |||
Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents |
|
| 12.3 | (0.7) |
|
|
|
| |
Net cash at the start of the financial year | 12 |
| 2.1 | 2.8 |
───── | ───── | |||
Net cash at the end of the financial year | 12 |
| 14.4 | 2.1 |
═════ | ═════ | |||
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents |
|
|
| |
Cash | 12 |
| 14.4 | 2.1 |
───── | ───── | |||
|
| 14.4 | 2.1 | |
═════ | ═════ |
1 Relates to the ProService Transaction. See note 16.
2 Relates wholly to the joint venture in Kazakhstan.
Notes to the Financial Statements
1 Accounting policies
Speedy Hire Plc is a public limited company listed on the London Stock Exchange, incorporated and domiciled in the United Kingdom. The consolidated Financial Statements of the Company for the year ended 31 March 2026 comprise the Company and its subsidiaries (together referred to as the "Group").
The financial information set out in this final results announcement does not constitute the Group's statutory accounts for the year ended 31 March 2026 or 31 March 2025 but is derived from those accounts. Statutory accounts for Speedy Hire Plc for the year ended 31 March 2025 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies, and those for the year ended 31 March 2026 will be delivered in due course. The Group's auditor has reported on the accounts for 31 March 2026; their report was (i) unqualified, (ii) included an emphasis of matter regarding a material uncertainty in relation to going concern (iii) did not contain a statement under Section 498 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.
A copy of the full accounts will be available on the Group's corporate website once published. Additional copies will be available on request from Speedy Hire Plc, 16 The Parks, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, WA12 0JQ.
The final results have been prepared on the basis of the accounting policies set out in the Group's annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2026 which, unless otherwise stated, have been applied consistently to all periods presented in these consolidated Financial Statements.
Going concern
The Directors consider the going concern basis of preparation for the Group and Company to be appropriate for the following reasons.
At 31 March 2026, the Group had access to a £150.0m revolving credit facility ("RCF") maturing in April 2028, with uncommitted extension options for a further two years, and a £75.0m private placement term loan due to expire in April 2032. These facilities replaced the Group's previous £180.0m asset‑based finance facility, which was due to terminate in July 2026. The Group also retains access to an uncommitted £50.0m accordion available through to April 2028. There are no scheduled repayments under these facilities before maturity. Cash and facility headroom at 31 March 2026 was £36.0m, reflecting the availability under the new RCF and the Group's cash position at the year end.
The Group meets its day‑to‑day working capital requirements through operating cash flows, supplemented as necessary by borrowings. The Directors have prepared a going concern assessment covering a period to June 2027 ("the going concern assessment period") of at least 12 months from the date of approval of these Financial Statements. This assessment indicates that, under the base case forecast, the Group is capable of operating within its existing facilities and meeting the associated financial covenant requirements. The key assumptions underpinning the projections include expected improved trading performance in current market conditions and the level of capital investment required to support those revenue levels.
The Group's financing facilities include quarterly leverage and fixed charge cover covenant tests. In preparation for entering into the ProService Transaction, the Group agreed short‑term amendments to the fixed charge cover covenant for the quarters ended 30 September 2025 and 31 December 2025, after which the covenant reverted to their original level. In addition, further short‑term amendments to both the leverage and fixed charge cover covenants were agreed prior to the year end, in anticipation of slower deleveraging than originally expected. The covenant tests for quarterly leverage and fixed charge cover return to their original levels at September 2026 and December 2026 respectively.
In preparing forecasted financial modelling, the Board has also considered a severe but plausible downside scenario, which reflect reduced levels of revenue compared to the base case budget and a broadly stable cost base, representing reduced revenue growth compared to prior year. Mitigating actions available to management in these scenarios include reductions in planned capital expenditure and restrictions on discretionary overhead growth. Under both the base case and the downside scenarios, the Group maintains forecast compliance with its financial covenants and has sufficient liquidity throughout the assessment period.
Notwithstanding the result of the severe but plausible downside scenario, the Group's forecasts remain sensitive to trading performance. A more significant deterioration in market and economic conditions than those modelled, including sustained underperformance of the business, or the loss or material reduction or delay of a key customer contract, could adversely impact the Group's financial performance and reduce covenant headroom or result in a breach of covenant limits in the near term.
The severe but plausible downside scenario indicates more limited headroom against the Group's leverage covenant at the June 2026 and September 2026 test dates. While the Directors have identified actions available to management which could support covenant compliance, the headroom in these periods is sensitive to changes in trading performance.
The downside modelling incorporates reductions in revenue and profitability consistent with a material under‑performance of the FY2027 budget and assumes limited mitigating actions. In addition, the Directors have considered a range of mitigating actions that are within management's control and could be implemented should trading performance deteriorate. These include the deferral or reduction of capital expenditure, active management of working capital, and reductions in discretionary expenditure and deferment of shareholder distributions.
The Directors have also taken into account the Group's established and constructive relationships with its lenders, including the covenant amendments agreed during FY2026.
Having considered the likelihood and potential impact of these risks, together with the availability of mitigating actions and funding arrangements, the Directors note that while covenant compliance is maintained in the base case and severe but plausible downside scenarios, there remains a risk that a more significant deterioration in market and economic conditions than those modelled, including sustained underperformance of the business, or the loss or material reduction or delay of a key customer contract, could adversely impact the Group's financial performance and result in a breach of the Group's financial covenant limits in the near term. These conditions indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the Group's and the Company's ability to continue as a going concern, specifically in relation to the risk of a breach of financial covenants under the Group's banking facilities. The financial statements do not include the adjustments that would result if the Group and the Company were unable to continue as a going concern.
Notwithstanding the material uncertainty described above, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Company and the Group have adequate resources to continue in operational existence for a period of at least 12 months from the date of approval of these Financial Statements. Accordingly, the Directors continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the Financial Statements.
2 Segmental analysis
The segmental disclosure presented in the Financial Statements has been determined based on the way in which performance is assessed, assets are monitored and resources allocated, and hence reflects the format of reports reviewed by the 'chief operating decision-maker'. The Group's reportable segments are Hire and Services, which form the UK and Ireland ("UK&I") business.
The Hire segment relates to hire of the Group's core fleet of owned products, covering a range of product lines in categories such as small tools, access, power and battery storage, lifting, survey, powered access, welding and plant machinery. The Services segment predominantly relates to the rehire of an extensive range of specialist equipment through partnerships with the industry's leading suppliers, referred to as Customer Solutions. This segment also includes fuel and energy sales and management, training, product sales, and test, inspection and certification services.
An element of the Group's costs are incurred at a corporate level and consequently cannot be analysed by segment. These costs, together with net corporate borrowings and taxation, are not directly attributable to the activities of the operating segments and consequently are presented under Corporate items. The remaining unallocated net assets comprise principally working capital balances held by the support services function.
For the year ended 31 March 2026 / As at 31 March 2026
| Hire excluding disposals | Services | UK and Ireland¹ | Corporate items | Total |
|
| £m | £m | £m | £m | £m |
|
Revenue | 255.3 | 149.9 | 416.1 | - | 416.1 |
|
Cost of sales | (52.4) | (123.3) | (185.6) | - | (185.6) |
|
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── |
| |
Gross Profit | 202.9 | 26.6 | 230.5 | - | 230.5 |
|
| ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
Segment result: | ||||||
Adjusted EBITDA² |
|
| 88.1 | (2.7) | 85.4 |
|
Depreciation³ |
|
| (72.1) | (0.1) | (72.2) |
|
Loss on planned disposals of hire equipment |
|
| (1.3) | - | (1.3) |
|
───── | ───── | ───── | ||||
Operating profit/(loss) before amortisation, non-underlying items and fair value movements on financial assets | 14.7 | (2.8) | 11.9 |
| ||
Amortisation³ |
|
| (1.6) | (2.7) | (4.3) |
|
Non-underlying items |
|
| (17.6) | - | (17.6) |
|
Fair value movements on financial assets |
|
| - | (3.3) | (3.3) |
|
───── | ───── | ───── | ||||
Operating loss |
|
| (4.5) | (8.8) | (13.3) |
|
Share of results of joint venture |
|
| - | (0.4) | (0.4) |
|
───── | ───── | ───── | ||||
Loss from operations |
|
| (4.5) | (9.2) | (13.7) |
|
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ||||
Finance costs | (18.6) |
| ||||
───── | ||||||
Loss before tax | (32.3) |
| ||||
Taxation | 5.7 |
| ||||
───── | ||||||
Loss for the financial year | (26.6) |
| ||||
═════ | ||||||
Intangible assets³ |
|
| 46.5 | 9.5 | 56.0 |
|
Investment in joint ventures |
|
| 0.6 | 4.4 | 5.0 |
|
Other financial assets |
|
| - | 3.8 | 3.8 |
|
Land and buildings |
|
| 12.7 | - | 12.7 |
|
Hire equipment |
|
| 239.4 | - | 239.4 |
|
Non-hire equipment |
|
| 5.3 | - | 5.3 |
|
Right of use assets |
|
| 108.8 | - | 108.8 |
|
Taxation assets |
|
| - | 0.9 | 0.9 |
|
Current assets |
|
| 123.3 | 5.4 | 128.7 |
|
Cash |
|
| - | 14.4 | 14.4 |
|
────── | ───── | ───── | ||||
Total assets |
|
| 536.6 | 38.4 | 575.0 |
|
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ||||
Lease liabilities |
|
| (114.4) | - | (114.4) |
|
Other liabilities |
|
| (138.3) | (12.6) | (150.9) |
|
Borrowings |
|
| - | (173.4) | (173.4) |
|
Taxation liabilities |
|
| - | (8.3) | (8.3) |
|
|
| ───── | ───── | ───── |
| |
Total liabilities |
|
| (252.7) | (194.3) | (447.0) |
|
|
| ═════ | ═════ | ═════ |
| |
¹ UK and Ireland also includes revenue and costs relating to the disposal of hire assets.
² See note 8.
³ Intangible assets in Corporate items relate to the Group's ERP system, amortisation is charged to the UK and Ireland segment as this is fundamental to the trading operations of the Group. Depreciation in Corporate items relates to computers and is recharged from the UK and Ireland based on proportional usage.
For the year ended 31 March 2025 / As at 31 March 2025
| Hire excluding disposals | Services | UK and Ireland¹ | Corporate items | Total |
|
| £m | £m | £m | £m | £m |
|
Revenue | 255.0 | 158.0 | 416.6 | - | 416.6 |
|
Cost of sales | (49.7) | (126.7) | (180.5) | - | (180.5) |
|
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── |
| |
Gross Profit | 205.3 | 31.3 | 236.1 | - | 236.1 |
|
| ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
Segment result: | ||||||
Adjusted EBITDA² |
|
| 101.0 | (3.9) | 97.1 |
|
Depreciation³ |
|
| (67.3) | (0.3) | (67.6) |
|
Loss on planned disposals of hire equipment |
|
| (2.7) | - | (2.7) |
|
───── | ───── | ───── | ||||
Operating profit/(loss) before amortisation and non-underlying items |
|
| 31.0 | (4.2) | 26.8 |
|
Amortisation³ |
|
| (0.6) | (3.2) | (3.8) |
|
Non-underlying items |
|
| (8.0) | (1.6) | (9.6) |
|
───── | ───── | ───── | ||||
Operating profit/(loss) |
|
| 22.4 | (9.0) | 13.4 |
|
Share of results of joint venture |
|
| - | 1.0 | 1.0 |
|
───── | ───── | ───── | ||||
Profit/(loss) from operations |
|
| 22.4 | (8.0) | 14.4 |
|
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ||||
Finance costs | (15.9) |
| ||||
───── | ||||||
Loss before tax | (1.5) |
| ||||
Taxation | 0.4 |
| ||||
───── | ||||||
Loss for the financial year | (1.1) |
| ||||
═════ | ||||||
Intangible assets³ |
|
| 28.7 | 9.7 | 38.4 |
|
Investment in joint ventures |
|
| 0.6 | 5.1 | 5.7 |
|
Land and buildings |
|
| 15.0 | - | 15.0 |
|
Hire equipment |
|
| 222.4 | - | 222.4 |
|
Non-hire equipment |
|
| 5.9 | - | 5.9 |
|
Right of use assets |
|
| 104.2 | - | 104.2 |
|
Taxation assets |
|
| - | 2.9 | 2.9 |
|
Current assets |
|
| 111.5 | 4.9 | 116.4 |
|
Cash |
|
| - | 2.1 | 2.1 |
|
────── | ───── | ───── | ||||
Total assets |
|
| 488.3 | 24.7 | 513.0 |
|
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ||||
Lease liabilities |
|
| (105.9) | - | (105.9) |
|
Other liabilities |
|
| (117.3) | (3.8) | (121.1) |
|
Borrowings |
|
| - | (115.2) | (115.2) |
|
Taxation liabilities |
|
| - | (8.6) | (8.6) |
|
|
| ───── | ───── | ───── |
| |
Total liabilities |
|
| (223.2) | (127.6) | (350.8) |
|
|
| ═════ | ═════ | ═════ |
|
¹ UK and Ireland also includes revenue and costs relating to the disposal of hire assets.
² See note 8.
³ Intangible assets in Corporate items relate to the Group's ERP system, amortisation is charged to the UK and Ireland segment as this is fundamental to the trading operations of the Group. Depreciation in Corporate items relates to computers and is recharged from the UK and Ireland based on proportional usage.
Geographical information
In presenting geographical information, revenue is based on the geographical location of customers. Assets are based on the geographical location of the assets.
Year ended / As at 31 March 2026 | Year ended / As at 31 March 2025 | |||
─────────────────── | ────────────────── | |||
Revenue | Non-current assets¹ |
Revenue | Non-current assets¹ | |
£m | £m | £m | £m | |
|
| |||
UK | 409.6 | 416.1 | 410.3 | 384.0 |
Ireland | 6.5 | 11.1 | 6.3 | 7.6 |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
416.1 | 427.2 | 416.6 | 391.6 | |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
¹ Non-current assets excluding financial instruments and deferred tax assets.
Revenue by type
Revenue is attributed to the following activities:
Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |
£m | £m | |
| ||
Hire and related activities | 255.3 | 255.0 |
Services | 149.9 | 158.0 |
Disposals | 10.9 | 3.6 |
───── | ───── | |
416.1 | 416.6 | |
═════ | ═════ |
Major customers
No one customer represents more than 10% of revenue, reported profit or combined assets of the Group.
3 Non-underlying items
Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |
£m | £m | |
| ||
| ||
Transformation costs | 6.3 | 6.6 |
Restructuring costs | 3.6 | 1.2 |
Business disposal | 2.8 | - |
Other professional and support costs | 4.9 | 1.8 |
───── | ───── | |
17.6 | 9.6 | |
═════ | ═════ |
Transformation costs
Our Velocity strategy is split into two distinct phases through to 31 March 2028, being Enabling Growth (years one to three) and Delivering Growth (years four to five). Throughout the Enable phase to March 2026, the investment in implementing our Velocity strategy and executing our transformation programme has represented a significant cost to the business.
The total cost (including those incurred in FY2024 and FY2025) of this phase is £20.5m, of which £16.1m relates to non-underlying items. The remainder of the costs either represent underlying costs to the business or are capital in nature.
The £6.3m non-underlying cost to the business in the year relates primarily to incremental people costs. FY2026 is the final year of the Enabling Growth phase, following which transformation costs will become part of the underlying business, as the Velocity strategy moves into its second phase: Delivering Growth.
Restructuring costs
An additional £3.6m relates to restructuring, as transformation projects have driven an accelerated move towards the target operating model, mandating certain depot closures and redundancies to align to the strategic direction of the business.
Business disposal
In August 2025 the Group disposed of the manufacturing division of Lloyds British, generating a loss on disposal of £2.6m, presented within non-underlying items due to the infrequent nature of such transactions. Subsequent restructuring of the Lloyds British business followed, resulting in £0.2m of additional costs.
Other professional and support costs
On 6 October 2025, the Group announced the ProService Transaction (see note 16). Significant legal, professional and integration costs have been incurred in relation to the transaction, which have been presented as non-underlying items owing to the scale and rarity of a transaction such as this.
The net cash outflow from activities associated with non-underlying items is £12.3m.
The following non-underlying items occurred in FY2025:
Transformation costs
Of the £6.6m non-underlying cost to the business in FY2025, £5.1m related primarily to incremental people costs.
The roll out of Velocity process improvements and applications, and the increasing leverage of systems and data, resulted in the redundancy of some employees in FY2025. Related costs of £1.5m were therefore presented within non-underlying transformation costs.
Other professional and support costs
In FY2025, the Group engaged with external advisors regarding the refinancing of the Group. Whilst the Group entered into the new arrangements post year end, replacing the asset based lending ("ABL") facility, related advisory services were provided, and work undertaken, in FY2025.
Legal and professional fees incurred as part of the refinancing could not be attributed directly to the new facilities, as they - in part - related to the settlement of the old facility. Hence these costs were recorded through the Income Statement rather than being capitalised against the new facility.
The remaining fees capitalised in relation to the ABL facility were also written off at 31 March 2025, given the refinancing was substantially complete as at 31 March 2025, with an expectation of completion soon after the year end.
Restructuring costs
In FY2025, following the autumn budget, a decision was taken to accelerate 'Future State' restructuring plans that formed part of the operational model changes in the Velocity strategy. The acceleration of the plan was, in part, to offset the announced increases in both the national minimum wage and employer national insurance contributions. Such restructuring entailed the closure of eight depots, with a resulting reduction in headcount. Restructuring of this scale is not part of the ordinary course of business and hence was presented within non-underlying items.
The net cash outflow from activities associated with non-underlying items during FY2025 was £6.4m.
4 Finance costs
Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |
£m | £m | |
|
| |
Interest on bank loans and overdrafts | 11.1 | 9.1 |
Amortisation of issue costs | 0.3 | 0.4 |
───── | ───── | |
Total interest on borrowings | 11.4 | 9.5 |
| ||
Interest on lease liabilities | 7.5 | 6.4 |
Other finance income | (0.3) | - |
───── | ───── | |
Finance costs | 18.6 | 15.9 |
| ═════ | ═════ |
5 Taxation
Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |
£m | £m | |
Tax credited in the Income Statement from continuing operations |
| |
Current tax |
| |
UK corporation tax on loss at 25% (2025: 25%) | - | (0.4) |
Adjustment in respect of prior years | (1.0) | 0.1 |
───── | ───── | |
Total current tax | (1.0) | (0.3) |
───── | ───── | |
Deferred tax |
| |
UK deferred tax at 25% (2025: 25%) | (5.5) | 0.3 |
Adjustment in respect of prior years | 0.8 | (0.4) |
───── | ───── | |
Total deferred tax | (4.7) | (0.1) |
───── | ───── | |
Total tax credit from continuing operations | (5.7) | (0.4) |
| ═════ | ═════ |
Tax charged/(credited) in other comprehensive income |
| |
Deferred tax on effective portion of changes in fair value of cash flow hedges | 0.1 | (0.1) |
| ═════ | ═════ |
The tax credit in the Income Statement for the year of 17.6% (2025: 26.7%) is lower (2025: higher) than the standard rate of corporation tax in the UK and is explained as follows:
Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |
£m | £m | |
| ||
Loss before tax | (32.3) | (1.5) |
───── | ───── | |
Accounting loss multiplied by the standard rate of corporation tax at 25% | (8.1) | (0.4) |
Expenses not deductible for tax purposes | 2.1 | 0.4 |
Share-based payments | 0.4 | 0.1 |
Share of joint venture income already taxed | 0.1 | (0.2) |
Adjustment in respect of prior years | (0.2) | (0.3) |
───── | ───── | |
Tax credit for the year reported in the Income Statement | (5.7) | (0.4) |
═════ | ═════ |
The adjusted effective tax rate of 18.4% (2025: 24.1%) is lower (2025: lower) than the standard rate of UK corporation tax of 25% (2025: 25%).
6 (Loss)/earnings per share
The calculation of basic loss per share is based on the loss for the financial year of £26.6m (2025: £1.1m loss) and the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue, and is calculated as follows:
Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |
Weighted average number of shares in issue (m) |
| |
Number of shares at the beginning of the year | 460.5 | 457.7 |
Movement in shares owned by the Employee Benefit Trust | 0.2 | 2.4 |
Vested shares not yet exercised | 0.6 | 0.2 |
───── | ───── | |
Weighted average for the year - basic number of shares | 461.3 | 460.3 |
Share options | 0.3 | 0.2 |
Employee share scheme | - | 0.5 |
───── | ───── | |
Weighted average for the year - diluted number of shares | 461.6 | 461.0 |
═════ | ═════ |
Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |
Loss/(profit) (£m) |
| |
Loss for the year after tax - basic earnings | (26.6) | (1.1) |
Intangible amortisation charge - acquired intangibles (after tax) | 1.2 | 0.4 |
Non-underlying items (after tax) | 15.0 | 7.2 |
Fair value movement on financial assets (after tax) | 2.5 | - |
───── | ───── | |
Adjusted (loss)/profit (after tax) | (7.9) | 6.5 |
═════ | ═════ | |
(Loss)/earnings per share (pence) |
| |
| ||
Basic loss per share | (5.77) | (0.24) |
Dilutive shares and options | 0.01 | - |
───── | ───── | |
Diluted loss per share | (5.76) | (0.24) |
═════ | ═════ | |
| ||
Adjusted (loss)/earnings per share | (1.71) | 1.41 |
Dilutive shares and options | - | - |
───── | ───── | |
Adjusted diluted (loss)/earnings per share | (1.71) | 1.41 |
═════ | ═════ |
More detail on adjusted earnings is provided in note 8.
Total number of shares outstanding at 31 March 2026 amounted to 516,983,637 (2025: 516,983,637), including 55,141,657 (2025: 55,141,657) shares held in treasury and 802,874 (2025: 1,329,911) shares held in the Employee Benefit Trust and which are excluded in calculating basic earnings per share.
7 Dividends
The aggregate amount of dividend paid in the year comprises:
Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |
£m | £m | |
| ||
2024 final dividend (1.80 pence on 454.7m ordinary shares) | - | 8.2 |
2025 interim dividend (0.80 pence on 455.6m ordinary shares) | - | 3.6 |
2025 final dividend (1.80 pence on 458.8m ordinary shares) | 8.3 | - |
2026 interim dividend (0.30 pence on 456.3m ordinary shares) | 1.4 | - |
───── | ───── | |
9.7 | 11.8 | |
═════ | ═════ |
Subsequent to the end of the year, and not included in the results for the year, the Directors recommended a final dividend of 0.70 pence (2025: 1.80 pence) per share, bringing the total amount payable in respect of the year ended 31 March 2026 to 1.00 pence (2025: 2.60 pence), to be paid on 2 October 2026 to shareholders on the register on 21 August 2026.
The Employee Benefit Trust, established to hold shares for the Performance Share Plan and other employee benefits, waived its right to the interim dividend. At 31 March 2026, the Trust held 802,874 ordinary shares (2025: 1,329,911).
8 Non-GAAP performance measures
The Group believes that the measures below provide valuable additional information for users of the Financial Statements in assessing the Group's performance by adjusting for the effect of non-underlying items and significant non-cash items including depreciation, amortisation and fair value movements on financial assets. The Group uses these measures for planning, budgeting and reporting purposes and for its internal assessment of the operating performance of the individual divisions within the Group. The measures on a continuing basis are as follows.
Year ended 31 March 2026 | Year ended 31 March 2025 | |
£m | £m | |
Operating (loss)/profit | (13.3) | 13.4 |
Add back: amortisation | 4.3 | 3.8 |
Add back: non-underlying items | 17.6 | 9.6 |
Add back: fair value movements on financial assets | 3.3 | - |
───── | ───── | |
Adjusted operating profit (EBITA) | 11.9 | 26.8 |
Add back: depreciation | 72.2 | 67.6 |
Add back: loss on planned disposals of hire equipment | 1.3 | 2.7 |
───── | ───── | |
Adjusted EBITDA | 85.4 | 97.1 |
| ═════ | ═════ |
Loss before tax | (32.3) | (1.5) |
Add back: amortisation of acquired intangibles | 1.6 | 0.6 |
Add back: non-underlying items | 17.6 | 9.6 |
Add back: fair value movements on financial assets | 3.3 | - |
───── | ───── | |
Adjusted (loss)/profit before tax | (9.8) | 8.7 |
| ═════ | ═════ |
Return on capital employed (ROCE) | ||
Adjusted (loss)/profit before tax | (9.8) | 8.7 |
Finance costs | 18.6 | 15.9 |
───── | ───── | |
Profit before tax, interest, amortisation of acquired intangibles, non-underlying items and fair value movements on financial assets1 | 8.8 | 24.6 |
Average gross capital employed2 | 281.2 | 276.2 |
ROCE | 3.1% | 8.9% |
1 Profit before tax, finance costs, amortisation of acquired intangibles, non-underlying items and fair value movements on financial assets for the last 12 months.
2 Average gross capital employed (where capital employed equals total equity and net debt) based on a two-point average for the last 12 months.
9 Intangible fixed assets
|
Acquired |
| Internally generated |
| |||
| Goodwill | Customer lists | Brands | Right of first refusal | Total acquired intangibles | IT development | Total intangible assets |
| £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m |
Cost | |||||||
At 1 April 2024 | 27.4 | 3.9 | 1.3 | - | 32.6 | 18.0 | 50.6 |
Additions | - | - | - | - | - | 2.5 | 2.5 |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2025 | 27.4 | 3.9 | 1.3 | - | 32.6 | 20.5 | 53.1 |
Additions | - | - | - | - | - | 2.4 | 2.4 |
Acquisitions1 | - | - | - | 19.5 | 19.5 | - | 19.5 |
Disposals | - | - | - | - | - | (3.6) | (3.6) |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2026 | 27.4 | 3.9 | 1.3 | 19.5 | 52.1 | 19.3 | 71.4 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
Accumulated amortisation | |||||||
At 1 April 2024 | - | 2.1 | 1.1 | - | 3.2 | 7.7 | 10.9 |
Charged in year | - | 0.4 | 0.2 | - | 0.6 | 3.2 | 3.8 |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2025 | - | 2.5 | 1.3 | - | 3.8 | 10.9 | 14.7 |
Charged in year | - | 0.5 | - | 1.1 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 4.3 |
Disposals | - | - | - | - | - | (3.6) | (3.6) |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2026 | - | 3.0 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 5.4 | 10.0 | 15.4 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
Net book value | |||||||
At 31 March 2026 | 27.4 | 0.9 | - | 18.4 | 46.7 | 9.3 | 56.0 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
At 31 March 2025 | 27.4 | 1.4 | - | - | 28.8 | 9.6 | 38.4 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
At 31 March 2024 | 27.4 | 1.8 | 0.2 | - | 29.4 | 10.3 | 39.7 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
1 See note 16.
The remaining amortisation period of each category of intangible fixed asset is the following: Customer lists one to eight years (2025: two to nine years), Brands one year (2025: two years), Right of first refusal six years (2025: nil) and IT development two to three years (2025: three to four years).
Analysis of goodwill, customer lists, brands and IT development by cash-generating unit:
Goodwill | Customer lists | Brands | Right of first refusal | IT development | Total | |
| £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m |
Allocated to |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hire | 26.4 | 0.9 | - | 18.4 | 8.2 | 53.9 |
Services | 1.0 | - | - | - | 1.1 | 2.1 |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2026 | 27.4 | 0.9 | - | 18.4 | 9.3 | 56.0 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
Allocated to |
|
|
|
| ||
Hire | 26.4 | 1.1 | - | - | 8.4 | 35.9 |
Services | 1.0 | 0.3 | - | - | 1.2 | 2.5 |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2025 | 27.4 | 1.4 | - | - | 9.6 | 38.4 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ |
All goodwill has arisen from business combinations and has been allocated to the cash-generating unit ("CGU") expected to benefit from those business combinations. All intangible assets are held in the UK.
The Group tests goodwill for impairment annually, or more frequently if there are indications that goodwill might be impaired, and considers at each reporting date whether there are indicators that impairment may have occurred. Other assets are assessed at each reporting date for any indicators of impairment and tested if an indicator is identified. The Group's reportable CGUs comprise the UK&I Hire business ("Hire") and UK&I Services business ("Services"), representing the lowest level within the Group at which the associated assets are monitored for management purposes.
The recoverable amounts of the assets allocated to the CGUs are determined by a value-in-use calculation. The value-in-use calculation uses cash flow projections based on five-year financial forecasts.
To prepare the value-in-use calculation, the Group uses cash flow projections from the Board-approved FY2027 budget, and a subsequent four-year period representing revenue growth in line with the expected market growth, with inflationary cost increases. This represents no significant uplift from strategic initiatives and is a continuation of the steady state of the Group, forming the best estimate of forecast performance at the time of impairment testing. A terminal value into perpetuity using long-term growth rates is then applied to these cash flows.
The key assumptions for these forecasts are those regarding trading performance - representing a combination of projected changes in revenue and overheads - and discount rate.
The Group's five-year financial forecasts assume average annual revenue growth of 6.1% and an average overhead increase of 3.3%. This results in average operating margin of 7.7%. Revenue growth is in line with the Group's current view of average market growth, adjusted for the annualised impact of significant contracts secured by the Group during FY2026, which are yet to fully mobilise. The forecasts therefore assume an expectation of growth in relative market share. The Directors believe that the assumptions adopted in the cash flow forecasts are the most appropriate.
The resulting forecast cash flows are discounted back to present value, using an estimate of the Group's pre-tax weighted average cost of capital, adjusted for risk factors associated with the CGUs and market-specific risks.
The impairment model is prepared in nominal terms. The future cash flows are based on current price terms inflated into future values, using general inflation and any known cost or sales initiatives. The discount rate is calculated in nominal terms, using market and published rates.
The pre-tax discount rates and terminal growth rates applied are as follows:
31 March 2026 | 31 March 2025 | |||
───────────────────── | ───────────────────── | |||
Pre-tax discount rate | Terminal value growth rate | Pre-tax discount rate | Terminal value growth rate | |
|
| |||
UK and Ireland Hire and Services | 12.3% | 2.0% | 12.6% | 2.0% |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
A single discount rate is applied to both CGUs as they operate in the same market, with access to the same shared Group financing facility, with no additional specific risks applicable to either CGU.
At 31 March 2026, the headroom between value in use and carrying value of related assets for the UK and Ireland was £153.6m (2025: £261.8m) - £130.4m for Hire (2025: £165.7m) and £23.2m for Services (2025: £96.1m).
Impairment calculations are sensitive to changes in key assumptions around trading performance and discount rate. An impairment may be identified if there is a significant change to these key assumptions, resulting from declining economic or market conditions and sustained underperformance of the Group.
The sensitivity applied in relation to trading performance is aligned to the assumptions applied in relation to going concern, representing a severe but plausible downside scenario, resulting in reduced revenue growth and lower profitability. Key assumptions are as follows:
Reduced trading performance |
|
Five-year forecast period | |
Average annual revenue growth | 5.1% |
Average annual overheads growth | 3.8% |
Operating profit margin | 4.3% |
Revenue growth in this scenario is still ahead of general market trend initially, as a result of the Group's secured contract wins which are yet to fully mobilise. Revenue growth thereafter however drops below expected market growth, representing a severe downside sensitivity. This scenario still results in a significant decline in operating profit margin from the base model, with limited mitigating actions. No impairment was identified as a result of the application of these sensitivities.
Whilst revenue growth represents a key assumption in the value-in-use calculation, it should not be considered in isolation as there are cost saving measures available to the Group to mitigate the impact of reduced revenue growth. For information, an unmitigated 1% reduction in revenue from the base model, in each year including the terminal period, would result in a £36.7m reduction in headroom - £34.4m for Hire and £2.3m for Services. This would not result in an impairment in either CGU.
Not considering relevant mitigations, revenue over the forecast period would need to decrease by 3.8% for Hire and 10.0% for Services from the base model, for the recoverable amount of each CGU to equal its respective carrying amount.
In the event of sustained or severe revenue underperformance, the Group is able to respond by making additional efficiencies not already included in the trading performance sensitivity. These include, but are not limited to, further reduced capital expenditure and cost saving initiatives.
The table below shows the reduction in headroom created by a change in assumptions:
Impact on headroom at 31 March 2026 (£m) | ||
Reduced trading performance | Pre-tax discount rate - 0.5% increase | |
Hire | (114.0) | (20.2) |
Services | (13.7) | (1.9) |
There are no reasonable variations Iin these assumptions that would be sufficient to result in an impairment of either the Hire or Services CGU at 31 March 2026.
It is noted that the market capitalisation of the Group at 31 March 2026 was below the consolidated net asset position - one indicator that an impairment may exist. Based on the impairment test performed, the Directors believe that no impairment is required in this regard.
10 Property, plant and equipment
Land and buildings | Hire equipment |
Other | Total | |
£m | £m | £m | £m | |
Cost |
|
|
|
|
At 1 April 2024 | 58.2 | 386.0 | 28.2 | 472.4 |
Foreign exchange | - | (0.5) | - | (0.5) |
Additions | 4.9 | 57.5 | 0.8 | 63.2 |
Disposals | 58.2 | 386.0 | 28.2 | 472.4 |
Transfers to inventory | - | (21.6) | - | (21.6) |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2025 | 61.0 | 401.5 | 27.7 | 490.2 |
Foreign exchange | - | 0.2 | - | 0.2 |
Additions | 2.0 | 53.0 | 1.3 | 56.3 |
Acquisitions1 | - | 16.8 | - | 16.8 |
Disposals | (2.3) | (15.3) | (0.4) | (18.0) |
Transfers to inventory | - | (33.7) | - | (33.7) |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2026 | 60.7 | 422.5 | 28.6 | 511.8 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
Accumulated depreciation |
|
|
|
|
At 1 April 2024 | 43.7 | 175.4 | 20.2 | 239.3 |
Foreign exchange | - | (0.4) | - | (0.4) |
Charged in year | 4.1 | 30.9 | 2.6 | 37.6 |
Disposals | (1.8) | (11.5) | (1.0) | (14.3) |
Transfers to inventory | - | (15.3) | - | (15.3) |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2025 | 46.0 | 179.1 | 21.8 | 246.9 |
Foreign exchange | - | 0.2 | - | 0.2 |
Charged in year | 3.7 | 35.3 | 1.8 | 40.8 |
Disposals | (1.7) | (8.0) | (0.3) | (10.0) |
Transfers to inventory | - | (23.5) | - | (23.5) |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2026 | 48.0 | 183.1 | 23.3 | 254.4 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
Net book value |
|
|
|
|
At 31 March 2026 | 12.7 | 239.4 | 5.3 | 257.4 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
At 31 March 2025 | 15.0 | 222.4 | 5.9 | 243.3 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
At 31 March 2024 | 14.5 | 210.6 | 8.0 | 233.1 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ |
1 See note 16.
The net book value of land and buildings is made up of improvements to short leasehold properties.
Of the £239.4m (2025: £222.4m) net book value of hire equipment, £36.1m (2025: £25.7m) relates to non-itemised assets.
The net book value of other - non-hire equipment - comprises, fixtures, fittings, office equipment and IT equipment.
At 31 March 2026, no indicators of impairment were identified in relation to property, plant and equipment (2025: none).
11 Right of use assets
Land and buildings |
Other | Total | |
£m | £m | £m | |
Cost |
|
|
|
At 1 April 2024 | 165.5 | 66.9 | 232.4 |
Additions | 2.1 | 19.3 | 21.4 |
Remeasurements | 13.1 | 3.2 | 16.3 |
Disposals | (5.4) | (10.1) | (15.5) |
───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2025 | 175.3 | 79.3 | 254.6 |
Additions | 8.7 | 8.3 | 17.0 |
Remeasurements | 21.7 | 0.3 | 22.0 |
Disposals | (9.0) | (15.3) | (24.3) |
───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2026 | 196.7 | 72.6 | 269.3 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
Accumulated depreciation |
|
|
|
At 1 April 2024 | 106.3 | 28.8 | 135.1 |
Charged in year | 14.2 | 15.8 | 30.0 |
Disposals | (4.9) | (9.8) | (14.7) |
───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2025 | 115.6 | 34.8 | 150.4 |
Charged in year | 14.6 | 16.8 | 31.4 |
Disposals | (6.2) | (15.1) | (21.3) |
───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2026 | 124.0 | 36.5 | 160.5 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
Net book value |
|
|
|
At 31 March 2026 | 72.7 | 36.1 | 108.8 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
At 31 March 2025 | 59.7 | 44.5 | 104.2 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
At 31 March 2024 | 59.2 | 38.1 | 97.3 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ |
Land and buildings leases comprise depots and associated ancillary leases such as car parks and yards.
Other leases consist of cars, lorries, vans and forklifts.
Included within disposals for the year ended 31 March 2026 is £0.7m (2025: £0.4m) relating to impairment of property leases presented within non-underlying items.
12 Borrowings
31 March 2026 | 31 March 2025 | |
£m | £m | |
Current borrowings |
| |
Bank borrowings - Payables financing | - | 2.3 |
Lease liabilities | 27.9 | 25.0 |
───── | ───── | |
| 27.9 | 27.3 |
═════ | ═════ | |
Non-current borrowings |
| |
Bank borrowings - Asset based finance facility | - | 112.9 |
Bank borrowings - Revolving credit facility | 98.4 | - |
Bank borrowings - Loan notes | 75.0 | - |
Lease liabilities | 86.5 | 80.9 |
───── | ───── | |
Total non-current borrowings | 259.9 | 193.8 |
───── | ───── | |
Total borrowings | 287.8 | 221.1 |
Less: cash | (14.4) | (2.1) |
Exclude lease liabilities | (114.4) | (105.9) |
───── | ───── | |
Net debt1 | 159.0 | 113.1 |
═════ | ═════ |
1 Key performance indicator - excluding lease liabilities.
Reconciliation of financing liabilities and net debt
1 April 2025 | Non-cash movement | Cash flow | 31 March 2026 | |
£m | £m | £m | £m | |
| ||||
Bank borrowings | (112.9) | 0.6 | (61.1) | (173.4) |
Payables financing | (2.3) | - | (2.3) | - |
Lease liabilities | (105.9) | 29.0 | (37.5) | (114.4) |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
Liabilities arising from financing activities | (221.1) | 29.6 | (96.3) | (287.8) |
| ||||
Cash and cash equivalents | 2.1 | - | 12.3 | 14.4 |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
Net debt | (219.0) | 29.6 | (84.0) | (273.4) |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ |
Bank borrowings
In April 2025, the Group refinanced its borrowings, replacing the £180.0m asset based finance ("ABL") facility which was due to expire in July 2026. The ABL balance of £112.9m at 31 March 2025 was repaid in full on 24 April 2025 and the new facilities simultaneously entered into. Details on these new facilities are as follows.
The Group has a £150.0m revolving credit facility ("RCF"), reduced to the extent that any ancillary facilities are provided, which is sub-divided into:
(a) A secured overdraft facility, which secured by cross guarantees and debentures the bank deposits and overdrafts of the Company and certain subsidiary companies up to a maximum of £5.0m.
(b) A supplier financing facility of £5.0m.
(c) A stand-by letter of credit facility of £5.0m.
(d) An RCF of up to £135.0m. Headroom on this facility as at 31 March 2026 was £36.0m (2025: £42.0m under the Group's previous £180.0m ABL facility).
An additional uncommitted accordion of £50.0m is also in place.
The RCF, expiring in April 2028, is priced based on SONIA plus a variable margin, whilst any unutilised commitment is charged at 35% of the applicable margin. During the period, the effective margin was 2.42% (2025: 2.14% under the ABL facility).
Additionally, the Group has a private placement loan of £75.0m, repayable in April 2032. Interest on the private placement term loan is fixed for the duration of the facility, payable quarterly.
The facilities are secured by fixed and floating charges over all of the Group's property and undertakings and include quarterly leverage and fixed charge cover covenant tests as follows:
Leverage* shall not exceed 2.75:1.00.
Fixed charge cover shall not be less than 2.00:1.00.
* The calculation of bank leverage includes certain additional EBITDA adjustments and is therefore not directly comparable with the Group's adjusted leverage measure.
During the year ended 31 March 2026, covenant amendments were agreed as follows:
Leverage shall not exceed 3.10:1.00 for the relevant periods ending on 31 March 2026 and 30 June 2026, returning to the level above for any relevant period ending on or after 30 September 2026.
Fixed charge cover shall not be less than 1.75:1.00 for the relevant period ending on 31 March 2026, 30 June 2026 and 30 September 2026, returning to the level above for any relevant period ending on or after 31 December 2026.
Payables financing
The Group is also party to a payables finance arrangement whereby credit from a bank is used to settle supplier invoices, with the Group then settling its balance with the bank at a later date. Supplier invoices settled using the payables financing facility are settled on the same terms as comparable trade payables settled outside of the arrangement. The financing liability created with the bank as a result of this arrangement is then settled 28 days following the monthly statement date.
Under the arrangement, the Group obtains extended payment terms without affecting payments to suppliers and is able to direct the payments the bank make on the Group's behalf. Joint and several liability is also in place under the facility. Given the substantially different terms the Group has with the bank under this arrangement, the supplier trade payable is derecognised once the liability is discharged upon payment, with a new financing liability instead recognised - representing the amount the Group owes to the bank - presented as a separate line item within current liabilities.
For the purpose of the cash flow statement, management considers that the bank settles the invoices as a payment agent on behalf of the Group. Any payment made by the bank is therefore presented as an operating cash outflow and a financing cash inflow. When the Group subsequently pays the amount outstanding to the bank, this is presented as a financing cash outflow. As a result, the amount of the payables financing facility utilised but not yet settled is included in the net debt reconciliation.
No significant non-cash changes arose as a result of this arrangement.
13 Lease liabilities
Land and buildings |
Other | Total | |
£m | £m | £m | |
At 1 April 2024 | 55.9 | 41.7 | 97.6 |
Additions | 2.1 | 19.3 | 21.4 |
Remeasurements | 13.1 | 3.2 | 16.3 |
Repayments | (16.8) | (18.2) | (35.0) |
Unwinding of discount rate | 3.2 | 3.2 | 6.4 |
Terminations | (0.8) | - | (0.8) |
───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2025 | 56.7 | 49.2 | 105.9 |
Additions | 8.7 | 8.3 | 17.0 |
Remeasurements | 21.7 | 0.3 | 22.0 |
Repayments | (15.1) | (22.4) | (37.5) |
Unwinding of discount rate | 4.1 | 3.4 | 7.5 |
Terminations | (0.3) | (0.2) | (0.5) |
───── | ───── | ───── | |
At 31 March 2026 | 75.8 | 38.6 | 114.4 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ |
Included within terminations for the year ended 31 March 2026 is £0.7m (2025: £0.4m) relating to terminations of property leases presented within non-underlying items.
Amounts payable for lease liabilities (discounted at the incremental borrowing rate of each lease) fall due as follows:
31 March 2026 | 31 March 2025 | |
£m | £m | |
| ||
Payable within one year | 27.9 | 25.0 |
Payable in more than one year | 86.5 | 80.9 |
───── | ───── | |
At 31 March | 114.4 | 105.9 |
═════ | ═════ |
14 Provisions
|
| Dilapidations |
| £m | |
|
|
|
At 1 April 2024 | 16.4 | |
Additional provision recognised | 0.5 | |
Provision utilised in the year | (2.8) | |
───── | ||
At 31 March 2025 | 14.1 | |
New provision created | 1.6 | |
Provision utilised in the year |
| (2.4) |
| ───── | |
At 31 March 2026 |
| 13.3 |
|
| ═════ |
Of the £13.3m provision at 31 March 2026 (2025: £14.1m), £4.0m (2025: £6.1m) is due within one year and £9.3m (2025: £8.0m) is due after one year.
The dilapidations provision relates to amounts payable to restore leased premises to their original condition upon the Group's exit of the lease for the site and other committed costs. Dilapidations may not be settled for some months following the Group's exit of the lease and are calculated based on estimated expenditure required to settle the landlord's claim at current market rates. The total liability is discounted to current values. The additional provision recognised in the year relates to newly acquired sites as part of the ProService Transaction (see note 16).
The provision recognised is based on management's best estimate of likely settlement and sits within a range of possible outcomes. The calculated provision equates to an expected settlement of £6.10 per square foot (2025: £6.47). If this were to change by £1 per square foot, a £2.2m movement (2025: £2.2m) in the provision would result.
15 Share capital
31 March 2026 | 31 March 2025 | |||
| ||||
Number | Amount | Number | Amount | |
m | £m | m | £m | |
Authorised, allotted, called-up and fully paid |
|
| ||
Opening balance (ordinary shares of 5 pence each) | 517.0 | 25.8 | 517.0 | 25.8 |
Exercise of Sharesave Scheme options | - | - | - | - |
───── | ───── | ───── | ───── | |
Total | 517.0 | 25.8 | 517.0 | 25.8 |
═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | |
During the year, no ordinary shares of 5 pence were transferred from treasury on exercise of options under the Speedy Hire Sharesave Scheme (2025: 4,624).
An Employee Benefits Trust was established in 2004 ("the Trust"). The Trust holds shares issued by the Company in connection with the Performance Share Plan. No shares were acquired by the Trust during the year (2025: nil) and 527,037 (2025: 2,731,148) shares were transferred during the year, the vast majority being the exercise of options by former employees. At 31 March 2026, the Trust held 802,874 (2025: 1,329,911) shares.
16 Business combinations
On 6 October 2025, Speedy Hire announced that its subsidiary Speedy Asset Services Limited ("SASL") entered into a comprehensive commercial hire and services supply agreement with HSS ProService Limited ("ProService"), a subsidiary of ProService Building Services Marketplace plc ("ProService plc") ("Commercial Agreement") and ProService plc's subsidiary at that time, HSS Service Group Limited, agreed to sell certain assets to SASL and ProService plc agreed to issue to the Company 79,368,711 of its shares (together the "ProService Transaction").
The Commercial Agreement sees the Group take on a right of first refusal to supply ProService with the core hire equipment it needs to fulfil its customer orders, as well as right of first refusal to supply ProService with TIC services, through Speedy Hire's Lloyds British business. The agreement is for an initial five-year period, with a unilateral option for Speedy Hire to extend for a further three years.
On 17 November 2025, the Group announced that the conditions of the ProService Transaction had been fully satisfied and accordingly had completed.
The ProService Transaction meets the definition of a business combination under IFRS 3, given the Group acquired an integrated set of activities and assets capable of revenue generating outputs, being the provision of core hire and TIC services to customers.
The fair value of the consideration paid and net assets acquired was as follows:
| £m | |
|
|
|
Cash consideration | 36.8 | |
Shares in ProService plc1 | (7.1) | |
───── | ||
Consideration relating to the business combination | 29.7 | |
Fair value of net assets acquired: | ||
Property, plant and equipment (hire fleet) | 16.8 | |
Asset condition provision | (0.5) | |
Right of use assets (properties and vehicles) | 9.4 | |
Lease liabilities (properties and vehicles) | (9.4) | |
Dilapidations provision | (1.6) | |
Intangible assets (right of first refusal) | 19.5 | |
Deferred tax liability2 |
| (4.4) |
| ───── | |
Gain on bargain purchase3 |
| (0.1) |
|
| ═════ |
1 9.99% shareholding in ProService Building Services Marketplace plc (registered number 09378067); separate to the business combination. Registered office: Building 2, Think Park, Mosley Road, Manchester, England, M17 1FQ.
2 Principally arising on the right of first refusal intangible asset.
3 Recognised within non-underlying items on the face of the Income Statement, along with £5.0m of acquisition related costs. See note 3 for details.
The ProService Transaction resulted in a gain on bargain purchase due to the net assets acquired exceeding the consideration. Through the Commercial Agreement the Group can access significant additional core hire and TIC orders, which it can fulfil primarily because of the existing Speedy Hire asset base, in addition to the property, plant and equipment acquired. It is therefore not practicable to disclose separable information on the performance of the acquired business post transaction as it is inherently linked to the wider Speedy Hire business.
The fair value exercise identified an intangible asset in relation to the right of first refusal contained within the Commercial Agreement.
The right of first refusal intangible has been valued using an income-based approach, focussing on the specific earnings generated by the intangible itself, after accounting for the contribution of other supporting assets of the Group. The valuation is based on information available, and conditions existing, at the valuation date of 17 November 2025, with a market participant discount rate having been applied. The useful economic life of the right of first refusal intangible has been determined as 6.5 years, assuming a 50% probability of the three year extension, owing to the inherent uncertainty in forecasting the contract's future performance.
The valuation is sensitive to changes in key assumptions around the length of the contract, i.e. the probability that the extension option will be executed, and the discount rate applied. Were the contract life instead determined to be 5 years or 8 years, a c.£3m movement would arise in the value of the right of first refusal intangible respectively, after accounting for the related deferred tax impact. A change of 0.5% in the discount rate would result in a c.£1m change in the value of the right of first refusal intangible.
Whilst separate to the business combination, the shares in ProService plc were acquired at the same time, classified as an other financial asset. This other financial asset is measured at FVTPL, as not to be held for long-term strategic purposes. The movement in fair value on this asset between the acquisition date and balance sheet date is as follows:
| £m | |
Shares in ProService plc |
|
|
At acquisition | 7.1 | |
Fair value movement | (3.3) | |
───── | ||
At 31 March 2026 |
| 3.8 |
|
| ═════ |
The responsibility statement below has been prepared in connection with the Group's Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2026. Certain parts of that report are not included within this announcement.
Directors' Responsibilities Statement
We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:
· the Financial Statements, prepared in accordance with the applicable set of accounting standards, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole;
· the Strategic Report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.
The names and functions of the Directors of the Company are:
Name Function
David Shearer Chairman
Dan Evans Chief Executive
Paul Rayner Chief Financial Officer
Rhian Bartlett Senior Independent Director
Shatish Dasani Non-Executive Director
David Garman Non-Executive Director
Carol Kavanagh Non-Executive Director
Principal risks and uncertainties
The business strategy in place and the nature of the industry in which we operate expose the Group to a number of risks. As part of the risk management framework in place, the Board considers on an ongoing basis the nature, likelihood and potential impact of each of the significant risks it is willing to accept in achieving its strategic objectives.
The Board has delegated to the Audit & Risk Committee responsibility for reviewing the effectiveness of the Group's internal controls, including the systems established to identify, assess, manage and monitor risks. These systems, which ensure that risk is managed at the appropriate level within the business, can only mitigate risk rather than eliminate it completely.
Direct ownership of risk management within the Group lies with the senior management teams. Each individual is responsible for maintaining a risk register for their area of the business and is required to update this on a regular basis. The key items are consolidated into a Group risk register which has been used by the Board to carry out a robust assessment of the principal risks.
The principal risks and mitigating controls in place are summarised below.
Controllable Risks
Vehicle or Health and Safety Incident | |
Description and potential impact | Mitigation |
An accident relating to Speedy Hire vehicles, equipment, employees, contractors or customers that results in serious injury and/or legal action.
| Health and Safety is fundamental to the Company's values. Speedy Hire continues to challenge current ways of thinking to improve risk exposure in its operations and improve safety performance. Our safety performance has been recognised through the achievement of the RoSPA construction commercial safety award for safety performance in 2025. During FY2026 we have maintained our accreditations including our FORS accreditation for fleet operations.
An open reporting culture is fostered with colleagues encouraged to report anything that they consider to be unsafe. Monthly communications to all colleagues highlight examples of successfully addressed issues or where there are lessons to be learned.
Speedy Hire has in place robust health and safety policies and procedures and is recognised for its industry leading health and safety compliance. Training is provided to all colleagues with managers expected to champion safety awareness within Speedy Hire's culture. We maintain systems that enable us to hold appropriate industry recognised accreditations, and this is supported by a specialist software platform for managing data and reporting in relation to Health and Safety, Security, Environment and Quality.
Technology usage to improve safety has been at the forefront over the past year to help improve safety and increase awareness. |
Key actions undertaken in FY2026 | |
· Halo fork truck system and forklift safety campaigns. · Samsara driver system implementation. · Dedicated driver training team to improve safety performance and awareness. | |
Cyber attack | |
Description and potential impact | Mitigation |
A cyberattack that results in a threat actor gaining unauthorised access to data or systems resulting in significant downtime, loss of Company commercial information or personal data, which could result in disruption of the business, fines, legal or regulatory action, and reputational damage and/or loss of public confidence. | Stringent policies surrounding security, user access and change control are in place. Mandatory training for employees is in place to raise awareness of cybersecurity.
An established Cybersecurity Governance Committee, incorporating Board members, meets quarterly to monitor our control framework and reports on a routine basis to the Audit & Risk Committee.
Speedy Hire's IT systems are protected against internal and external unauthorised access. These protections are tested regularly by an independent provider. Speedy Hire has retained its Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation, which also provides assurance over its processes and controls. All mobile devices have access restrictions and, where appropriate, data encryption is applied. |
Key actions undertaken in FY2026 | |
· Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation renewal achieved. · ISO27001 reaccreditation achieved. · Strengthening password management process and controls via the service desk. · Annual penetration testing and vulnerability testing has been undertaken by a third party. · Development tools to protect against vulnerabilities at source are in place and utilised. | |
Significant IT outage or Disaster Recovery event | |
Description and potential impact | Mitigation |
A significant IT outage or IT Disaster Recovery event that results in significant downtime of the business, resulting in reputational damage, lost business and lost employee hours. | Preventative controls, including back-up and recovery procedures, are in place for key IT systems. Changes to Speedy Hire's systems are considered as part of wider change management programmes and implemented in phases wherever possible. Core controls are built into new systems, and they are linked into the recovery processes when rolled out.
Speedy Hire has critical incident plans in place for all its sites. Insurance cover is reviewed at regular intervals to ensure appropriate coverage in the event of a business continuity issue.
Speedy Hire has a documented plan to establish a crisis management team when events occur that interrupt business. This includes detailed plans for all critical trading sites and Head Office support. These plans are regularly tested by management and any advisory actions raised are implemented on a timely basis. |
Key actions undertaken in FY2026 | |
· An annual IT Disaster Recovery test is undertaken to check resilience. | |
Funding arrangements | |
Description and potential impact | Mitigation |
Funding agreement requirements are not maintained or met leading to the withdrawal of additional funding and the potential requirement for early repayment, which could result in the Company not being able to continue as a going concern and impact reputation and shareholder perception.
| The Board has an established Treasury Policy regarding the nature, amount and maturity of committed funding facilities that should be in place to support Speedy Hire's activities.
The Group has a defined capital allocation policy. This ensures that Speedy Hire's capital requirements, forecast, actual financial performance, and potential sources of finance are reviewed at Board level on a regular basis in order that its requirements can be managed within appropriate levels of spare capacity.
Forward compliance with financial covenants is reviewed and monitored by the Audit & Risk Committee and the Board. Covenant compliance is formally reported to the lender group on a quarterly basis according to the financing arrangements.
|
Key actions undertaken in FY2026 | |
· Prior to the year end, the Group agreed a temporary amendment to the financial covenants to maintain sufficient headroom following the strategic ProService Transaction whilst the Group goes through the process of meaningful deleveraging during FY2027. | |
Loss of a major Speedy Hire site | |
Description and potential impact | Mitigation |
A major site (e.g. RSC+ or NSC) is not operational for a significant period, resulting in loss of revenue, equipment and/or reputation. | Speedy Hire recognises the importance of robust operational resilience capabilities and has established Business Continuity Plans ("BCP") and processes, which have been tested and are reviewed on an ongoing basis. For key operational sites, business impact assessments are undertaken and have been completed on NSCs, our Head Offices and other significant locations.
To assess our resilience, incident scenario testing has been undertaken with third parties to ascertain readiness and the robust nature of our plans. The findings of these reviews have been used to further develop our response plans.
A crisis management team is in place with testing of crisis management response reviewed through real life events usually fire, flooding or road traffic incidents. |
Key actions undertaken in FY2026 | |
· Further testing and enhancements made to business impact assessments include other localised emergency scenarios to ensure location readiness. · BCP processes have been externally validated and assessed as controlled. | |
Loss of a key contract | |
Description and potential impact | Mitigation |
Loss of a key customer or key supplier relationship due to breach of terms, breakdown of relationship or the business leaving the market, resulting in loss of future sales, a gap in supply and/or financial losses, which could affect our financial results and investor confidence.
| Speedy Hire mitigates the risk of losing a key customer or supplier through the national sales and procurement teams, monitoring of compliance with terms, and proactive management of performance and service issues. It monitors contractual performance at various levels within the organisation, identifying high-risk contracts for special attention and implementing remediation plans when performance falls short.
Speedy Hire maintains strong relationships with its key suppliers and continuously works with them to agree mutually beneficial contracts, conduct due diligence in line with its commitment to responsible sourcing, and ensures a continuous supply of quality goods and materials.
Customer and supplier concentration is monitored, with actions taken to diversify the portfolio where feasible. Contingency plans, including the identification of alternative suppliers and commercial mitigation actions, are maintained to reduce disruption to supply, revenue and financial performance. |
Key actions undertaken in FY2026 | |
· Contract management processes enhanced. · Key supplier management in place. · Identification of alternative suppliers undertaken. | |
Transformation benefits delivered are not sufficient to meet strategic goals | |
Description and potential impact | Mitigation |
Transformation projects do not deliver the level of cost saving and benefit expected by the business to achieve the Velocity Strategy, resulting in a fall in share price and loss of expected benefit and outlay by the business.
| A business plan for the transformation programme has been completed and approved by the Board. Each pillar of the transformation plan has an Executive Team sponsor and ongoing monitoring of activity and progress. KPI tracking is in place for each initiative.
Financial business cases are done at programme level and individual project level. These are updated monthly to track cost and benefit realisation. Progress updates and material issues are reported to the Executive Team monthly.
Fortnightly 'pulse' meetings are held with the Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer to identify areas of concern and enable action to be taken to address those. |
Key actions undertaken in FY2026 | |
· A new corporate website has been designed and introduced. · OpenFleet, a new logistics management system aimed at optimising transport routes using live data, has been rolled out. · A new CRM system has been rolled out. · A new telephony system has been rolled out. · Mobile tablets and an app have been rolled out across operations and engineering. | |
Climate change | |
Description and potential impact | Mitigation |
Climate-related risks may materialise and cause a wide range of adverse impacts to Speedy Hire over the short, medium and long-term. The severity of any impact would vary depending on the climate scenario and a range of local and macro factors.
| Speedy Hire mitigates climate‑related risks through strong governance, targeted investment and transparent reporting. Material climate responsibilities and challenges are regularly assessed, with oversight from the Board and mitigation actions cascaded through the ESG Business Partners and ESG Committee, supported by technical expertise from the Head of Sustainability & Governance and the Head of Net Zero.
Compliance is reinforced through ESG policies and procedures, with updates on emerging legislation shared via the Group's training system, People Fluent. Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions are monitored monthly and reported annually in line with ISO 14064‑1, supported by external verification.
Investment decisions emphasise low‑carbon innovation, fuel efficiency and fleet decarbonisation, working closely with suppliers to adopt emerging technologies. Looking ahead, Speedy Hire will launch its Climate Transition Plan in FY2027, setting out a structured pathway that builds on its existing Taskforce for Climate‑Related Financial Disclosures ("TCFD") reporting and aligns with upcoming Sustainability Reporting Standards ("SRS"). Speedy Hire continues to disclose material climate‑related risks and opportunities annually through its TCFD statement within the Annual Report, supporting transparency and reinforcing its commitment to long‑term climate resilience. |
Key actions undertaken in FY2026 | |
· Governance Arrangements for ESG have been established with regular ESG Committee meetings held during the year. · Additional processes and controls have been put in place to ensure our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions data is accurately reported including an internal data governance framework. · Sustainability workshops have been held to further knowledge and understating across Speedy Hire. · A Climate Transition Plan has been drafted. · The TCFD model has been expanded to include physical risk modelling and inclusion of tools within the asset climate model. | |
Uncontrollable Risks
Market and economic conditions | |
Description and potential impact | Mitigation |
Serious downturn in economic and market conditions significantly impacts the volume of sales, ongoing business and orders resulting in a contraction of the market and lower revenues. | Speedy Hire monitors changes in economic and market conditions through the ongoing analysis of private and public sector spending, customer demand and market trends; this includes considering the wider macroeconomic environment and geopolitical conflicts. Insight from this analysis is embedded within the Group's commercial and performance governance framework, and informs financial and operational budgeting, forecasting and investment decisions.
Defined management review forums use scenario and sensitivity analysis to assess the potential impact of adverse market conditions and to support timely decision making, including pricing discipline, margin management, cost control and the prioritisation of capital and transformation investment.
The Group's strategy focuses on maintaining a differentiated proposition across its chosen markets and managing customer and sector exposure to support resilience. The Board provides oversight of strategic alignment, resource allocation and risk response, whilst management takes decisive action, where required, to mitigate the impact of market volatility and ensuring continued investment in strategic priorities. |
Government policy | |
Description and potential impact | Mitigation |
Changes in government policy negatively impact Speedy Hire's business, personnel and operations, resulting in lost revenue, increased costs and reduced margins. This includes the future of major government schemes, e.g. HS2, which could impact the confidence of investors and shareholders and may result in Speedy Hire not achieving growth targets, aspects of the Velocity strategy not being fulfilled and reductions in share price. | Speedy Hire monitors and assesses changes in Government policy and public sector spending as part of its ongoing market and insight analysis. The potential impact of policy changes is evaluated through the Group's financial and operational budgeting and forecasting processes, including scenario analysis where appropriate.
Relevant risks and impacts are reviewed through established commercial and insight governance forums, with escalation to senior management where required. Mitigating actions, including pricing, cost control, sector focus and capital allocation decisions, are implemented to manage financial exposure and protect margins. |
Viability Statement
The Group operates an annual planning process, which includes a multi-year strategic plan and a one-year financial budget. These plans, and risks to their achievement, are reviewed by the Board as part of its strategy review and budget approval processes. The Board has evaluated the Group's current position and outlook and has considered the impact of the principal risks to the Group's business model, performance, solvency and liquidity, as set out above.
The Directors have determined that three years is an appropriate period over which to assess the Viability Statement. Whilst the strategic plan is based on detailed action plans developed by the Group with specific initiatives and accountabilities, there is inherently less certainty in the projections beyond year three in the plan. The Group's financing facilities of £225m are represented by a £150m revolving credit facility ("RCF") and a £75m private placement term loan. The RCF is in place through to April 2028, with uncommitted extension options for a further two years, and the private placement term loan is in place through to April 2032. The strategic plan assumes the facilities will be extended to cover the viability period and to meet the Group's investment strategies, taking into account the Group's established and constructive relationships with its lenders, including the covenant amendments agreed during FY2026.
In making this statement, the Directors have considered the resilience of the Group, its current position, the principal risks facing the business in distressed but reasonable scenarios, and the effectiveness of any mitigating actions. Scenario analysis has been performed, which considers a manifestation of the principal risks that could directly impact the Group's trading performance, including, but not limited to, market and economic conditions and Velocity not delivering expected benefits.
The analysis assumes reduced levels of revenue and a broadly stable cost base, with limited mitigating actions. Under both the base case and the downside scenarios, the Group maintains compliance with its financial covenants and has sufficient liquidity throughout the assessment period.
Notwithstanding the results of the severe but plausible downside scenarios, the Group's forecasts remain sensitive to trading performance. A more significant deterioration in market and economic conditions than those modelled, including sustained underperformance of the business, or the loss or material reduction of a key customer contract, could adversely impact the Group's financial performance and reduce covenant headroom or result in a breach of covenant limits.
The severe but plausible downside scenario indicates more limited headroom against the Group's leverage covenant at the June 2026 and September 2026 test dates. While the Directors have identified actions available to management which could support covenant compliance, the headroom in these periods is sensitive to changes in trading performance.
The downside modelling incorporates reductions in revenue and profitability consistent with a material under‑performance of the FY2027 budget and assumes limited mitigating actions, continuing into future years. In addition, the Directors have considered a range of mitigating actions that are within management's control and could be implemented should trading performance deteriorate. These include the deferral or reduction of capital expenditure, active management of working capital, and reductions in discretionary expenditure and deferment of shareholder distributions.
Having considered the likelihood and potential impact of these risks, together with the availability of mitigating actions and funding arrangements, the Directors note that while covenant compliance is maintained in the base case and severe but plausible downside scenarios, there remains a risk that a more significant deterioration in trading performance could result in a breach of the Group's financial covenants. These conditions indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the Group's ability to continue as a going concern, specifically in relation to the risk of a breach of financial covenants under the Group's banking facilities.
Notwithstanding the material uncertainty described above, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Company will be able to continue in operation and meet its liabilities as they fall due over the period to March 2029.
The going concern statement and further information can be found in note 1 of the Financial Statements.
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