27.11.2014

Strong half for Vp

UK based rental group Vp, owner of UK Forks, TPA and Hire station, has reported a strong first half.

The group as a whole saw revenues rise 11 percent to £101.3 million, while pre-tax profits jumped 26 percent to £15.5 million and net debt dropped from £65.4 million to £53 million.

Telehandler rental division UK Forks increased revenues by nine percent to £9.13 million, while operating income was up 54 percent to £2.3 million. UK Forks said: “While house building remained our most buoyant sector, we are also finally seeing some sustained growth in demand from the general construction market.”

“Our continuing ability to demonstrate to our customers the commercial value of superior service and product support enabled us to convert these opportunities into profitable growth. We have continued to invest strongly in the business with rental fleet additions of £5.2 million in the first half (up from £3.8 million last year) and we remain very positive about the prospects for UK Forks.”

The TPA temporary road and matting division saw revenues slip seven percent to £9.29 million, while operating profits dipped 25 percent to £2 million.

It blames the drop on drier weather in the UK, coupled to changes to the structure of transmission contracts and over-capacity putting pressure on margins. “Further investment in plastic panels is being made in order to increase the versatility of TPA's offering but we expect that these challenging trading conditions in the UK will extend into the second half of the year. In contrast, Europe continued to enjoy much better trading as demand from the transmission and wind sectors in particular, held up well.”

The Hire Station tools and small equipment rental division, which includes low level and compact powered access as well as mobile scaffold towers, managed to boost revenues 13 percent to £36.1 million, while operating profits leapt 78 percent to £4.8 million

Other divisions include Torrent Trackside, Groundforce and Airpac Bukopm,

Vertikal Comment

Another excellent set of numbers from Vp which has been progressing at a steady but consistent pace for several years now while keeping its borrowings and gearing relatively modest. The company is in a good position to take advantage of any acquisition or other opportunities that may come along.