12.07.2006

A-Plant invests over £80 million

A-Plant, the UK rental business of the Ashtead group, has announced that it is doubling its investment in new equipment for 2006/07 to £80 million. It has already confirmed £37 million worth of orders with 20 manufacturers.

Orders for the Plant and Tool division have included telehandlers, while the A-Plant powered access division has spent £1.5 million with Nifty Lift to renew and update its trailer lift fleet and £500,000 with JLG for booms and scissors.

Sat Dhaiwal, Chief Executive Officer of A-Plant, said: “We have very ambitious growth targets with the aim of doubling our market share in the next three years. The record Capex we have allocated is aimed at increasing sales volume by offering a wider range of products to new and existing customers.”

Vertikal Comment
Following several years of restructuring A-Plant has won the confidence of the Ashtead board to expand again, In terms of telescopic handlers and more particularly, powered access, it has a good deal of replacement buying to do before it gets anywhere close to expanding its share of these markets.

Over the past two years it has lost a great deal of market share as companies like The Platform Company, AFI, Panther, Fork Rent, UK Forks and others have expanded rapidly and reduced the average age of their fleets.