03.05.2012

H&E Equipment rises 28.7%

Louisiana based H&E Equipment has reported first quarter revenues up 28.7%, with new equipment sales up 40%.

Total revenues for the quarter were $173.7 million, 28.7 percent higher than in the same quarter last year. Pre-tax profits for the period were $5.76 million, compared to a loss of 9.76 million last year.

Looking into the revenue detail, rental revenues rose 23 percent to 59.6 million, driven by better utilisation at 65.8 percent compared to 61 percent last year, and a 10 percent hike in rental rates year on year - up 1.5 percent on the quarter. The average age of the fleet at the end of the period was 42.8 months.

New equipment sales, which includes cranes, aerial lifts, boom trucks and earthmoving equipment, jumped 40 percent to $41 million with a significant improvement in margins. The balance of the revenues are made up of parts sales and service revenue.

Chief executive John Engquist said: “The momentum in our business continued into the first quarter resulting in strong performance with growth in every segment of our business compared to a year ago. The construction environment continues to improve and we experienced elevated demand across all the regions we serve, especially in our Gulf Coast and Intermountain regions where energy related activity remains especially high.”

“Our rental revenues were particularly strong, growing 23 percent from a year ago with continued improvement in rates and utilisation. We are pleased that our distribution business generated solid growth of 32.2 percent over last year’s results. We continue to benefit from our exposure in high growth industrial segments and improving market conditions, and as a result, both revenue and EBITDA grew significantly, at 28.7 and 82 percent respectively.”

“Our outlook for 2012 remains positive based on current market conditions and we believe our results validate our ability to capitalize on these cycle improvements. We remain focused on solid execution, operating leverage and cost control to profitably grow our business.”