Full-year loss for Speedy

UK rental company Speedy hire has reported a £57.6 million (€74 million) pre-tax loss for fiscal 2015, while revenues dropped 12% year-on-year to £329 million (€421 million).

The company reported exceptional costs for the year ended March 2016 of £59.9 million (€76.7 million), including acquisitions and restructuring costs.

The international division has been restructured including the closure of operations in Egypt and Qatar and the sale of the business in Oman in the current financial year.

The group also withdrew from the UAE spot hire business in the previous yea, but said its remaining oil and gas activities in the region were currently operating profitably.

In the UK and Ireland, where the majority of Speedy’s revenues are generated, the company said it had seen a partial recover in the final quarter. Nevertheless, revenues fell 12% year-on-year in this division to £309 million (€396 million).

Total capital expenditure during the year amounted to £69 million (€88.4 million), compared to £87.7 million (€112 million) for the 12 months to the end of March, 2015. Speedy said £57.8 million (€74 million) of its cap-ex spend was related to rental equipment.

Chief executive Russel Down said, “We have restructured the business, cut overheads to more closely align them with revenues, enhanced the management information generated from our systems and improved our cash performance. We are now starting to see an improvement in our culture and greater efficiencies throughout our operations.

“The business is starting to respond positively to the actions we are undertaking. With a renewed focus on sales, tighter overhead control and better management information with which to manage return on capital we are creating a solid platform for the future.”

And Jan Åstrand, executive chairman, added, “We are beginning to see the business responding to the actions being undertaken by the new management team with an improvement in our culture of accountability, customer service, and in driving greater efficiencies throughout our operations.”

Capital expenditure and disposals.”