13.04.2023

VP trading statement

UK rental group Vp - owner of telehandler rental company UK Forks, low level access company MEP and general rental business Brandon Hire - has published a full year trading update.

The company says that it has made good progress since November and expects to report full year results in line with expectations.
It said: “The UK division has continued to make good progress and has seen the benefit of a stronger civil engineering and infrastructure market. Whilst general construction sector demand shows some level of volatility it is stable overall, though the Group has seen some regional market weakness in the South East of England in recent months. Whilst our housebuilding customer base has, as anticipated, reduced volumes since the start of the new calendar year, the position is stable for Vp and the group remains busy in that sector.”

“To combat cost inflationary pressures the group has successfully negotiated price increases across its customer base, which has helped mitigate those increased costs. We have over recent months taken the opportunity to deliver some minor restructuring across a number of business units as we look to optimise our businesses to operate in the current market environment.”
In terms of its relatively small international operation, it added: “Both the TR Group and Airpac Rentals divisions have traded satisfactorily and made further progress as their respective markets maintained their recovery during the period.”

Chief executive Neil Stothard said: "Since we reported our Interim Results last November, the group has continued to make good progress across our core markets, and we are pleased that our performance for the full year will be in line with the board's expectations. In the period, we have worked hard to successfully mitigate cost inflationary pressures and we believe that the group is well placed to optimise performance in the current environment. We are confident that we will continue to deliver value growth for our shareholders and will be able to react quickly to both challenges and opportunities as specific markets recover."

Vertikal Comment

It is hard to say if this is a positive statement or not? It is certainly not negative, but clearly reflects the current uncertainty that is seen in the UK market. Vp is a solid business, is family controlled and has low gearing so if things do turn ugly, it is well placed to benefit from opportunities rather than simply suffer from the economic impact.