02.08.2006

A-Plant to spend £32 million to upgrade access fleet

A-Plant the UK rental division of the Ashtead group, has placed a £5.5 million order with JLG for new aerial lifts, part of an £8 million spend this year.

The company has also said that this year’s orders are only the first phase of a three year, £32 million investment that the company is making in expanding and updating its powered access rental fleet.

The order for JLG products includes both diesel and electric powered scissor lifts ranging from the smallest ES models up to the 78ft (24m) 1.2 metre wide Liftlux 245-12 models. Boom lifts ordered include a number of larger units such as the 86 ft straight boomed 860SJ, plus 80ft-800AJ, 125ft-1250AJP and 135ft-1350AJP articulated booms.
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A JLG-iftLux 245-12 in A-Plant colours

This years spend by A-Plant not only lowers the average age of the company’s fleet, but also extends its range. Until now the largest boom was 80ft and the largest scissor 50ft.

All RT scissor lifts have been specified with double decks and self-levelling jacks. While the new 4-wheel drive booms are all equipped with integral generators, providing on-board electrical power for tools.

Some will be rebuilt

In addition to this order, A-Plant is sending several boom lifts for remanufacture at JLG’s Equipment Services facility at Tonneins in France.

The order is the largest deal to be won by JLG UK this year, Steve Shaughnessy, managing director of A-Plant Specialist Products, said: “We chose JLG for a number of reasons. They offer some of the best specification products on the market and have worked very hard to meet our tight delivery schedules for this size of order”.

Vertikal Comment

The A-Plant fleet was beginning to get very old in the tooth, thanks to a lack of significant investment over the past few years. In the past Ashtead’s policy was avoid feeling “committed” to offering any particular type of equipment. It always maintained that if the returns from a certain market were below what it considered to be a minimum level, it would simply stop investing in that type of product.

For much of the period since 2001 returns on self propelled aerial lifts have not been great. They have certainly improved, but this substantial investment in powered access is more likely to be associated with Ashtead’s gradual move away from that old policy than a belief that access market rates are on an upward trend.

With stronger competition in the UK, and the trend among larger contractors towards national agreements, Ashtead knows that a wide and consistent product range is important when bidding for such contracts as well as for customer retention.

Later this week Ashtead shareholders will give their decision on the Nations Rent acquisition. Assuming, as expected, it goes ahead Ashtead could become the second largest renter of powered access in the world after United Rentals.



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