04.08.2011

HSS up 9%

UK based rental company HSS has reported first half revenues up nine percent on 2010, with the trend continuing through the second half.

First half revenues were £89.5 million, while profit before depreciation, interest and tax (EBITDA)– the only profit indicator that the privately held company releases improved by more than 10 percent to £19.5 million.

Revenues in the second quarter grew by more than 6.5 percent to £42.6 million while EBITDA came in at £8.4 million – virtually the same as last year. The company invested £10.9 million in capital expenditure compared to £6.2 million in the same period last year.

During the period the company launched HSS Outsource Cleaning, a new service aimed at cleaning and FM contractors, while its training division -HSS Training posted the strongest growth.

Looking forward the company says that it continues to see steady growth in spite the expiry of its Network Rail supply contract, lower than average cooling product revenues and challenging economic conditions.

Chief executive Chris Davies said: “We have delivered another quarter of sustained growth. This is an encouraging performance given the challenging economic and competitive environment and confirms our strategy of customer-centric propositions in primarily the ‘maintain and operate’ sectors. It is also encouraging to see growth in all the UK and Ireland regions.”

“EBITDA has been maintained whilst making significant investments in the logistic network and transitioning to a 24 hour maintenance operation, reducing cycle times and supporting higher utilisation. This additional investment will continue in H2 2011 to enable the full network transformation to be completed - positioning the business for further efficiency gains in 2012”

“Our priority remains generating a strong revenue and cash performance through growing our business and continuing to focus on customers, colleagues, cash and costs.”