12.01.2012

Lavendon up 7%

Lavendon, Europe’s largest powered access rental company has issued its full year trading statement.

The group’s revenues for the 12 months to the end of December, excluding fleet disposals and the discontinued Spanish business, increased by seven percent compared to last year and up five percent in the fourth quarter.

Lavendon saw rental revenue growth across all of its operations, with the UK and Germany both up seven percent for the year, Belgium and France both up 13 percent and the Middle East rising five percent for a total group improvement of eight percent.

During the fourth quarter the trend continued with the UK and Germany, although the increase was a more modest four percent due to the higher comparison numbers of fourth quarter 2010. Belgium rose 10 percent, France 14 percent and the Middle East a massive 17 percent.

The company said: “A combination of volume and pricing increases has delivered revenue growth across the UK and Continental European businesses, with Belgium and France beginning to benefit from the redeployment of the Spanish fleet.”

“The UK has also made further progress in improving pricing in the period such that this more than compensated for some volume decline following the completion of major projects during the quarter.”

“In the Middle East, as previously reported, demand patterns remain unpredictable, although the recovery of the Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabian markets continue to gain momentum which, together with our leading market position, has driven an increase in the rate of year-on-year rental revenue growth.”

“The combination of revenue growth and actions to enhance operational and capital efficiency has delivered a marked improvement in the Group's profitability, margins and return on capital employed for the year. In particular, our German business is starting to benefit from the actions taken to improve profitability and deployment of capital in line with our aim to substantially improve its relative contribution to the Group's performance. As we move into 2012, we anticipate further progress in our key performance metrics.”

The group managed to reduce its net debt by £33 million during the year to £107 million as of December 31st, reflecting the company’s strong cash flow and modest levels of new capital investment.

Chief executive Don Kenny, said: "The group made good progress in 2011 with all operations growing revenues and the actions taken to improve operational efficiency and capital deployment delivering the expected benefits. As a result, there has been a marked improvement in the Group's profitability, margins and ROCE for the year. In addition, the improved performance has facilitated a significant reduction in the Group's net debt levels and has positioned us well as we move into 2012. The Board believes the Group's results for 2011 will be in line with expectations."