Has Speedy hire turned the corner?
It's looking interesting. Any thoughts?
Takeover time?

StockMarketWire.com
Leading tool and equipment hire provider Speedy said the group remained on track to deliver full-year results in line with the Board's expectations and announced the appointment of David Shearer as Chairman from 1 October.

Ahead of its AGM later on Thursday, the Group said revenue for the first quarter of the year ending 31 March, pre disposals, increased by 6.6% on the prior year. Hire revenue and services revenues grew by 5.5% and 8.4%, respectively.

UK and Ireland hire revenue, meanwhile, increased by approximately 1% on a like-for-like basis, while the international business also continued to perform well, with a strong pipeline of opportunities.

The Group invested around £15.2m in the first quarter on new equipment for hire, up 4.0% on the prior year. Expenditure continued to be carefully targeted with average asset utilisation rates increasing to 55.7%, on a rolling 12-month basis.

Net debt at 30 June of £67.0m was lower than at year-end (£69.4m), while ROCE for the 12 months to 30 June was 11.8% (30 June 2017: 8.4%).

Outgoing Chairman Jan Astrand will remain as a Non-Executive Director of the Company and member of the Nomination Committee until 31 October 2018.

StockMarketWire.com
Tools and equipment rental group Speedy Hire more than doubled its first-half profit after it grew its customer base.

Pre-tax profit for the six months through September rose to £13.2m, up from £6.0m on-year.

Revenue rose 6% to £194.6m and adjusted profit, which excluded proceeds from asset sales, increased 26% to £13.4m.

Speedy Hire declared an interim dividend of 0.60p per share, up 20% on-year.

'These results demonstrate the progress we have made in implementing a customer focused strategy and growing our SME customer base,' chief executive Russell Down said.

'We have further improved our customer service proposition and the use of technology to better manage the business and meet market challenges.'

'We remain confident of delivering a result for the full year in line with our expectations.'