HSS Hire Group Announces Third Quarter 2014 Results

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HSS Hire Group

17 Nov, 2014, 15:37 GMT

LONDON, November 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Robust organic growth maintains strong trading momentum

HSS Hire Group ("HSS" or "the Group") today announces financial results for the 39 weeks ended 27 September 2014.

Nine months financial highlights

  • Turnover increased by 27.8% to £208.5m (2013: £163.1m)
    • through a combination of 18.6% organic growth and a significant contribution of 9.3% from specialist acquisitions
  • EBITDA increased by 27.7% to £51.7m* (2013: £40.5m)

Third quarter financial highlights 

  • Turnover increased by 20.4% to £77.9m (2013: £64.7m)
    • comprising of organic growth of 17.2%, supplemented by a 3.2% increase from the specialist acquisitions of Apex Generators and TecServ
  • EBITDA increased by 21.2% to £22.9m* (2013: £18.9m)

* EBITDA adjusted to remove certain exceptional costs.  

Nine months trading and operating highlights 

  • Group continuing to perform in line with expectations
  • Primary focus on business customers in the maintain and operate segments of the tool hire market underpins a further strong increase in turnover
  • Long-term investments in branch network, fleet and strategic acquisitions continue to deliver profitable growth
  • Specialist businesses, ABird (generators) and UK Platforms (powered access) continue to perform well year to date, while the 2014 acquisitions of Apex Generators and TecServ contributed an increase of 3% to Group turnover during the third quarter
  • Steady increase in the size of the hire fleet in line with the improved market opportunity
  • Healthy growth in the HSS OneCall service  
  • 14 new HSS Local Format Branches opened in the first nine months of 2014, with roll-out accelerating through the period, providing local trades with a core range for collection, supported by next day delivery from HSS' national hire fleet

Chris Davies, Chief Executive Officer at HSS Hire Group, said:

"The Group maintained its strong trading momentum in the third quarter with organic growth of 17 per cent, continuing the robust trend established in the first half of the year. Importantly, we continued to deliver healthy growth across all our customer groups and businesses with total revenue of £78m, up 20 per cent year-on-year, and EBITDA growth of 21 per cent.

"These strong results demonstrate the effectiveness of our customer-centric approach and primary focus on the maintain and operate segments of the tool hire market. Looking ahead, we remain confident about the potential of our long-term strategy to continue to generate strong revenue growth and high returns on capital."

Under the ownership of Exponent, which acquired the Group in October 2012, HSS has continued to expand its operations and invest in its technology platforms and in strategic acquisitions that support its organic growth plan. As a result, the Group has grown a business which it believes is well placed to benefit from improving economic conditions. As HSS embarks on the next stage of its development, it has started to explore sources of funding, including the public equity markets. The Group will inform its stakeholders if it decides to proceed with a new funding arrangement as appropriate.

Conference call  

A conference call for Senior Secured Notes investors will be held at 14:00hrs GMT on Monday 17 November 2014. If you would like to participate in this call, please register by email using the following email address: investors@hss.com.

Further information  

For further information please visit: http://www.hsshiregroup.com . Download HSS's Q3 2014 Report at http://www.hsshiregroup.com/financial-results. If you would like to be added to our distribution list for announcements relating to the Senior Secured Notes, please email: investors@hss.com.

Notes to Editors: 

HSS Hire Group provides tool and equipment hire and related services in the UK and Ireland through a nationwide network of over 250 locations. Focusing primarily on the operate and maintain segments of the market, 90% of its revenues come from business customers. HSS was acquired by Exponent Private Equity in October 2012. For more information please see http://www.hsshiregroup.com

Further enquiries: 

Fiona McFadden, Head of PR, Founded
fiona.mcfadden@founded.com, +44(0)7786-736-706 / +44(0)20-3747-3800