€40 billion mark breached in 2017 IRN100

Once again IRN100 rental revenues grew year-on-year – by 4.25% – with the presence of rental getting stronger. A total of €41.2 billion was generated by the top 100, meaning the €40 billion mark had been breached for the very first time.

You can download the IRN100 report from the June issue of IRN at http://www.khl.com/magazines/international-rental-news/  

On a like-for-like basis (stripping out the impact of currency fluctuations between 2015 and 2016), the value of the IRN100 grew 4.2% year-on-year, with the combined total of the top five companies rising some 6.4% to reach €14.2 billion at constant exchange rates, and €13.7 billion in real terms.

It must be noted that UK companies may have seen a decrease in their sales, when translating to Euros, but in local currency, this may not be the case. Indeed, the Euro appreciated againt the pound over the course of 12 months.

IRN also calcuated that US companies grew by an average of around 6% year-on-year.

So, the usual suspects remained at the top of the list, in the shape of United Rentals and Ashtead Group, while the rest of the top ten looked familiar, but were not necessarily in the same order as a
year before.

Capital expenditure, however, did fall 12.1% year-on-year among the top 25 spenders, as no less than €6.3 billion was spent on new fleet investment – one which saw Ashtead Group rise above United Rentals in the rankings.

There were one or two big movers in the table this year, none more so than Maxim Crane Works, which threatened to enter the top ten for the first time, but fell marginally short, finishing 11^th. The US-based crane hire company rose six places after a 17^th place finish in 2016, aided by its merger with AmQuip Crane Rental, which was triggered by Private equity firm Apollo Global Management in May last year.

A few must-mentions from the IRN100 this year begin with the sad demise of former UK-rental company Hewden, which went into administration at the back-end of last year, before Ashtead Group swooped to secure its powered access, power and industrial on-site businesses, plus the Hewden brand for £29 million (€32.9 million). Since its demise, companies such as GAP Hire Solutions have acquired former Hewden depots across the UK.

Another must-mention is Loxam’s acquisition of Lavendon Group. However, as the deal didn’t close until early 2017, such a move has not affected either companies’ 2016 revenues. This will, however, change for the IRN100 2018 version, which will be based on 2017 revenues. France’s Loxam bought Lavendon Group, from the UK, for €520 million, beating TVH Group to the prize.

Finally, table-topper United Rental purchased NES Rentals (which finished 33rd) for US$965 million (€861 million) in April this year. Again, this had no effect on either companies’ 2016 revenues, but the scale of the deal was one which warranted mention upfront.

Meanwhile, there were four new entrants to the IRN100 this year. Topping the list of new companies was De Boer Structures, which was placed at joint 93^rd alongside Komatsu Cummins Chile Arrienda. The company recorded revenues of €90 million for 2016, compared with €73 million a year earlier. De Boer also topped the list of near misses last year, at 101, and its healthy increase in 2016 means the company jumped eight places year-on-year.

De Boer is a Netherlands-based company which operates globally, renting mainly for the events industry. It has nine depots and employs 250 people.

Next up, in 95^th position, is Ardent. The UK rental company – which also made the near misses table last year – recorded revenues of €84 million for 2016, which is a rise of €12 million year-on-year. Ardent is a renter of construction equipment and has 11 depots to its name, while employing 220 people.

Last year, Speedy sold its large plant fleet to Ardent Hire Solutions for £14.4 million (€16.3 million) in cash. The sale includes excavators, dumpers and ride-on rollers with operating weights of 3 tonnes and above. Ardent was created by the merger of Fork Rent and One Call Hire in 2015 – a deal that was engineered by former Speedy CEO Steve Corcoran.

Finally, Matebat and Arcomet entertain the bottom spots. Both companies recorded revenues of €80 million for 2016. Holgat is the private owner to both Matebat and Arcomet’s France’s operations.

Further analysis to come

The IRN100 Extended Toplist – a more detailed look at this year’s IRN100 survey – will be available in the coming months from the KHL.com Information Store.

This stand-alone, extended version of the table will not only include data on company revenues, fleet investment and industry consolidation, but also new commentary on each of the companies in the IRN100, as well as extra graphs analysing the trends.

The idea is to provide additional background context on the companies in the table, delving deeper into the reasons as to how and why they got to their position in the ranking. The additional graphs and charts also make it easier to interpret the data, offering a great visual representation of the trends in the industry.

A video featuring editor Joe Malone analysing this year’s table will also be available soon on khl.com.