I here a whisper that Ashtead may become the target of a takeover bid. Anybody have any further news on this? I've been holding this little gem for a while now. Got in at 11.25p and then sold 2/3rds of my stock at 18p to break even. Can't quite decide when to take my mega profit. 1 by Christmas? Here's hoping.

Ashtead wins $20m US settlement
MonAM
Tool and equipment rental company Ashtead Group said a US court has upheld an award of damages and costs of about $20m to its unit Sunbelt Rentals Inc from Head & Engquist Equipment.

Ashtead said the North Carolina Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal by H&E against an earlier ruling in a case that dates back to 2000.

Ashtead alleges that just before Sunbelt acquired BET USA, H&E carried out a plan to develop its aerial work platform rental business by raiding over 100 staff from BET USA to open competing rental stores.

Ashtead said the $20m award has not yet been reflected in its accounts but it has expensed all Sunbelt's litigation costs.

Anyone got any thoughts regarding AHT's recent takeover?

Ashstead is doing well in America... so why the drastic fall today?

RNS good first quarter results full year to be ahead of expectations, perhaps an indicator that the US economy is on the mend.

perhaps - broker target here is 235p

Surely we know the US economy isn't in good shape . . . Obama is fighting the wolves and has very little slack to play with. US-employment figures showed it was still downbeat and their credit-rating is downgraded still.

Apart from actually being Bankrup, what is the US-good news?

Now Ashtead - I don't understand where this increasing turnover is coming from. Is it due to competitors dropping out - if so, why is AHT immune?
The possibility of a "takeover" could slew the sp, but their RNS seem to say "Turnover on the Up" - however, apart from the UK-based Olympics (soon to stop construction), what good news is there in the UK? (Oh, yes, Crossrail to move folks to the Olympic site that can't get there by public transport already).
Maybe High-speed rail - but in my experience, any LT hire it is cheaper to "buy", esp as manufacturers might do a BOGOF style deal, to shift plant/ Selling to AHT is not something they should want to do.
+ The yield is pretty poor.

StockMarketWire.com
Equipment rental group Ashtead unveils record underlying pre-tax profits of £84.4m in the six months to the end of October - up 197% on last time.

Underlying operating profits were up 75% at £109.6m and revenues rose 24% to £575.5m.

Pre-tax profits on a statutory basis increased by 271% to £82.9m and the interim dividend rises 7.5% to 1.0p per share.

Chief executive Geoff Drabble said: "We are delighted to report record first half pre-tax profits of £84m in end markets which remain well below previous peaks.

"Market share gains, the on-going structural shift to rental in the US and operational efficiency meant we delivered a very strong performance across a broad range of metrics despite end construction markets being at a cyclical low point.

"This is encouraging for both the short-term, where we expect a continuation of current trends, and the longer term where, when cyclical recovery comes, we expect to benefit significantly.

"With our robust debt structure, substantial capacity to fund fleet growth and the well-established momentum in the business we now anticipate a full year profit substantially ahead of our earlier expectations."

Ashtead , the industrial equipment hire business, will reveal its full-year results on Thursday. At its third-quarter results in March, business that hires out equipment ranging from hand tools to heavy plant, posted a record pre-tax profit of £21m. Profits swelled as tight finances pushed consumers towards renting rather than buying expensive equipment. At the time, Ashtead said it was expecting full-year profit to significantly exceed earlier expectations. Analysts are anticipating annual pre-tax profits of about £122m compared to £31m last time. Jefferies analysts retained their “buy” on Ashtead ahead of results, pointing to an increase in equipment rental in the US and a recovery in rental rates.

We operate mainly in the US and UK, under the brand names Sunbelt Rentals and A-Plant.



Sunbelt Rentals A-Plant

Description The second largest equipment rental business in the US, Sunbelt continues to increase its market share rapidly. Sunbelt has 361 locations operating in major metropolitan centres across the US. The third largest equipment rental company in the UK with 109 locations nationwide, operating in a mature, stable market.

Employees 6,283
1,949

Principal operating regions US UK

LTM revenues to 31 January 2012 $1,451m
(£907m)
£183m

LTM operating
profit to 31 January 2012
$263m
(£164m) £5m




Ashtead provides rental solutions in all manner of situations including:

•Non residential construction markets - providing all types of construction equipment
•Facilities management - again providing all types of equipment for maintenance and repair rather than new construction
•Disaster relief - providing pumps and power generation equipment in all types of application ranging from assistance at times of flooding due to weather (e.g. following storms/hurricanes) to a burst water supply
•Major event management - providing power generation, lighting and other equipment for events such as the Super Bowl and other sporting events, major music concerts and festivals
•Traffic management - providing portable traffic systems to facilitate major engineering projects or clean-up after an accident

Final Results




Highlights



· Record Group pre-tax profit2 for the year of £131m (2011: £31m)

· Group EBITDA margins of 34% (2011: 30%)

· £476m of capital invested in the business

· Group RoI, including goodwill, grew to 12% (2011: 7%)

· Net debt to EBITDA leverage reduced to 2.2 times (2011: 2.7 times)

· Proposed final dividend of 2.5p making 3.5p for the year (2011: 3.0p)





http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4392659

Ashtead profits soar
StockMarketWire.com
Equipment rental group Ashtead reported record pretax profit for the year to end-April of £131m (2011: £31m), with total dividend up to 3.5p from 3p.

Group EBITDA margins were 34% (2011: 30%).

£476m of capital was invested in the business in the year.

Group RoI, including goodwill, grew to 12% (2011: 7%).

Net debt to EBITDA leverage was reduced to 2.2 times (2011: 2.7 times)

Ashtead proposed a final dividend of 2.5p making 3.5p for the year (2011: 3.0p).

CEO, Geoff Drabble, commented: 'We are delighted to report record Group profits, encouragingly delivered against a backdrop of end construction markets remaining at historically low levels.

'This performance demonstrates the success of our largely organic investment strategy and our ability to generate significant revenue growth from market share gains and translate this into stronger margins through improved operational efficiency.

'The momentum we have established, and the flexibility provided by our strong balance sheet, allows us to anticipate further growth with or without end market recovery. As a result, it is likely that our profits in the coming year will be ahead of our previous expectations.'

..Ashtead raises guidance

AHT.L 264.00 +13.60

......
LONDON (ShareCast) - Ashtead Group (LSE: AHT.L - news) , the construction equipment leasing firm, has reported record profits as tight cost control and strong demand in the US helped the firm beat analyst expectations. In the 12 months to the end of April revenue improved by 20% compared to the previous year, hitting £1,135m, reflecting a strong performance from the US division known as Sunbelt Rentals. The full year figure was just ahead of the consensus forecast of £1,120m. The revenue growth, cost control, lower net financing costs and several business improvement programmes combined to generate underlying pre-tax profits of £131m compared to just £31m in the prior year and better than the £122.4m the market had been expecting. The firm notes that "exchange rate fluctuations did not have a significant effect on year-on-year comparisons." Ashtead is split into US and British operations. Sunbelt Rentals is by far the bigger outfit, generating revenues of £945.7m against £782.7m in 2010/2011. It is the second biggest company of its type in the United States. In Britain, Ashtead's operations run under the A-Plant brand, which is the third biggest equipment rental firm in the UK; its revenue contribution was £188.9m versus £165.8m. Interestingly, Sunbelt's margin was 35.9% while A-Plant only achieved 26.2% and that comes in the context of ongoing difficulties in the US construction market. Ashtead's Chief Executive, Geoff Drabble, said of the results: "We are delighted to report record group profits, encouragingly delivered against a backdrop of end construction markets remaining at historically low levels. "The momentum we have established, and the flexibility provided by our strong balance sheet, allows us to anticipate further growth with or without end market recovery. As a result, it is likely that our profits in the coming year will be ahead of our previous expectations." Ashtead shares had risen 6.3% by 8:43. Over the last 10 years the stock has gained 440% in value, the FTSE 100 (Euronext: VFTSE.NX - news) has risen just 21.4%. BS

..

..Questor share tip: Ashtead benefits from constrained construction budgets

By Garry White | Telegraph – 10 minutes ago

Plant-hire group Ashtead posted full-year profits that were 6pc ahead of market expectations. There could be more outperformance ahead. Questor says buy.

Ashtead 252p Questor says BUY

Ashtead hires construction equipment and has tapped into a trend of companies renting rather than buying plant in order to preserve their cash. It also continued to invest through the downturn, despite a slump in construction.

The group operates as Sunbelt in the US and A-Plant in the UK. The lion’s share of its revenues more than 80pc are generated across the Atlantic (Stuttgart: A0J3C9 - news) , so a US market recovery is very important for Ashtead. The company has also seen benefits from the shale-gas boom.

The company has one of the largest market shares of the fragmented US market and smaller rivals have had difficulty investing in their businesses. This has given Ashtead an edge.

In the year to April, revenues rose by 21pc to £1.13bn and pre-tax profits jumped to £135m from £1.7m.

This demonstrates the company’s leverage to any improvement in the construction market as it has a relatively high fixed-cost base. Despite these costs and the continued investment, the company was always profitable during the financial crisis.

The total dividend is 3.5p, with the final payment of 2.5p slated for September 7. The shares trade without this payment from August 15 and the prospective yield in the current year is 1.4pc.

Trading on a current year earnings multiple of 13.3, falling to 11, the shares are at a premium to its US-listed peer United Rentals (Frankfurt: 911443 - news) . However, upgrades are likely, as is more infrastructure spending. Buy.

..

Good interest in this share today, up 6%

Moving up nicely. Very large after hours buy tonight.
Just sitting under a 52 week high and a all time high.

Performing very well, another large buy after the bell

AHT

Taken a long position here (have a few tranches). Was on verge of a breakout (still is) and results on the 4th of September which could be rather solid. Might push it through the 52 week high.

Brokers well and truly behind AHT.

P/E of just 13.2 to 2013 and EPS rise of 35.7%

Rather cheap imo.

Ashtead Group PLC

FORECASTS 2013 2014
Date Rec Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)

Panmure Gordon [A]
27-08-12 BUY 160.00 20.30 3.80 180.00 22.70 4.24
Westhouse Securities [A]
23-08-12 BUY
Peel Hunt [A]
15-08-12 BUY 159.99 20.19 3.90 185.58 23.20 4.30
Seymour Pierce [A]
02-07-12 BUY 167.10 21.80 186.30 24.30
Canaccord Genuity Ltd
27-06-12 None 163.50 20.70 3.85 200.70 25.40 4.24
Numis Securities Ltd [A]
20-06-12 BUY 149.60 19.50
Investec Securities [A]
07-12-11 BUY 102.49 13.21 3.31 120.04 15.47 3.47

2013 2014
Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)
Consensus 163.50 20.70 3.85 200.70 25.40 4.24
1 Month Change 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
3 Month Change 20.24 2.52 0.28 29.10 3.00 0.24

Notes to forecasts
(21 Jun 2012) A flag refers to outlook


GROWTH
2012 (A) 2013 (E) 2014 (E)
Norm. EPS 360.00% 35.77% 22.70%
DPS 4.78% 25.41% 10.13%

INVESTMENT RATIOS
2012 (A) 2013 (E) 2014 (E)

EBITDA £370.60m £m £m
EBIT £167.70m £221.00m £263.20m
Dividend Yield 1.12% 1.41% 1.55%
Dividend Cover 4.97x 5.38x 5.99x
PER 17.92x 13.20x 10.76x
PEG 0.05f 0.37f 0.47f
Net Asset Value PS 28.64p p p

Some Bullish Broker target SPs
for AHT..........

Ashtead Group Broker Views
Date Broker Recommendation Price Old target price New target price Notes

24 Aug Oriel Securities Buy 276.35 284.00 - Retains
18 Jul Oriel Securities Buy 276.35 284.00 284.00 Retains
18 Jul Jefferies International Buy 276.35 320.00 320.00 Reiterates
13 Jul Credit Suisse Outperform 276.35 316.00 316.00 Reiterates
13 Jul UBS Buy 276.35 340.00 340.00 Retains