03.09.2025

Varied first quarter for Ashtead

Ashtead, owner of Sunbelt Rentals in the USA, Canada and the UK has published its first quarter results for the three months to the end of July.

Group revenues increased two percent to $2.75 billion, revenues from rental was also two percent higher at $2.6 billion. With both North America and the UK contributing. At the same time Pre-tax profit dipped a further six percent to $511 million, due to higher staff and operating costs, higher depreciation partly offset by lower interest costs and higher central costs.

Results by region
North American Revenues: totalled $2.56 billion +2% with an Operating profit of $820.7 million – 2.5%
UK Revenues: came in at $242.7 million +2.5% with an Operating profit of $16.2 million -27%

Capital expenditure & fleet age Capital expenditure for the quarter was $532 million, down from $855 million in the same period last year, pushing the average age of the fleet up from 48 months to 50 months at the same point last year.

Acquisitions: The company has also spent $20 million on two small ‘bolt on' tool rental acquisitions - MPC Solutions a speciality scaffold consulting business in Rock Hill, South Carolina, in early June, and Saint-Georges, Quebec based two location rental business, Location de Beauce (1983) in mid-July.

Net Debt at the end of July was reduced by 4.5 percent to $10.3 billion, due to lower capex and fewer acquisitions.

Full year forecasts
The full year forecasts for 2025 are flat rental revenues up to growth of four percent rise, which equates to total revenues of roughly $10.7 billion depending on sales, to as high as $11.2 billion.
Capital expenditure on the fleet is forecast to fall for the second year in a row to $1.8 to $2.2 billion, a reduction of between 25 and eight percent on 2024.

Chief executive, Brendan Horgan said:" The group delivered solid first quarter results with revenues, profits and free cash flow in line with our expectations as we continue to take advantage of secular tailwinds and the structural progression of our industry. Rental revenue increased 2.4% as mega project activity gained momentum, and we are seeing positive leading indicators for local non-residential construction activity.”

“Our revenue growth combined with strong margins and disciplined capital deployment resulted in near record free cash flow in the quarter. In addition, we were able to complete $330 million of share buybacks in the quarter bringing our total to around $675 million under the current programme, as well as paying down $91million of long term borrowings, with leverage of 1.6x. I would like to thank the team for these results, while leading with our safety-first culture and Engage for Life programme, which are continuing to drive improvements in our safety metrics.”

“We are reaffirming our revenue and capex guidance for the year, while raising it for free cash flow. Lastly, we continue to progress our relisting on the NYSE that is currently scheduled for March 2026.”

Vertikal Comment

After a long period of year on year revenue and profit growth spurred on my acquisitions as well as organic growth, Ashtead appears to have hit a slightly stickier patch, although its numbers remain extremely impressive. While it is clearly looking to reduce its debt load and risk in a period of short term – hopefully – uncertainty. No bad thing.

It will though have to keep an eye on the age of its equipment. The Sunbelt fleets generally appear smart, relatively new and well maintained as well as modern. As the fleet ages keeping this up becomes increasingly difficult and costly and will start affecting margins, while putting customers off.

But all in all, while this performance is a little below that of the ‘glory days’ it remains very sound and encouraging.