Weekly roundup: Nishio integrates | United speciality rise | Speedy faces tough market

In the US, United Rentals has been investing heavily in specialty rental to reduce its reliance on the cyclical construction sector.

In its third quarter results, the world’s largest rental company reported that its Specialty rentals activity has driven a 7.5% increase in revenues, while its general rental business was almost flat year-on-year.

Specialty rentals, in areas such as trench shoring, power and pumps, saw a 23.9% increase to $1.13 billion, while its general rentals business rose by 0.9% to $2.32 billion.

Growth in specialty includes the impact of the acquisition of temporary roadway business Yak, which was concluded in March this year. Without that deal, specialty would still have grown by 14.8% year-on-year, while total equipment revenue growth would have been closer to 5%.

Matthew Flannery, chief executive officer of United Rentals, said he was pleased with the results “As we enter the home-stretch of 2024, we’re happy to reaffirm the mid-points of our guidance across all metrics. Longer-term, we remain optimistic on the multiple secular tailwinds we see, particularly across large projects.”

Conversely, Herc Rentals’ Q3 results exceeded previous expectations, confirming the US company’s February forecast of outpacing industry growth.

“In the third quarter, we significantly outpaced overall industry growth on both a total rental revenue basis and from an organic revenue perspective,” said Larry Silber, president and chief executive officer. “By capitalizing on our broad end-market coverage, diversified product and services offering and expanding share in resilient urban markets, we continue to deliver strong volume and a solid price/mix performance.”

The company reported record equipment rental revenue of $866 million, marking a 13% year-over-year increase for the three months that ended Sept. 30, and total revenues of $965 million, a 6% rise for the same period.

Nishio integration 

Earlier this week Nishio Holdings, the owner of Japanese rental company Nishio Rent All, announced that it will integrate the general rentals business of its subsidiary Sacos Corp into Nishio Rental-All.

Nishio said the restructuring would help it grow its business in metropolitan Tokyo, with the aim of increasing revenues from Yen50 billion (€305 million) in its 2023 financial year to Yen70 billion €428 million) within five years.

The company also said that the integration of Sacon in Japan would also give it “know how” on rental consolidation.

Under the realignment, the remainder of Sacos will focus on specialized rental activities including power rentals, railway track construction equipment, and used equipment sales.

The company added that future growth in Japan’s rental market would require industry restructuring and that the Sacos transaction would act as a “demonstration of possible future industry reorganisation”.

Italian opportunities 

In Europe Italian rental company CGTE (formerly CGT Edilizia) has appointed Vincent Albasini as its new CEO, which the company described as a “major change at the top” and said that it marks an “important step towards the future of the company.”

Albasini, who succeeds Massimo Rossi Mossuti, previously spent 19 years with Swiss rental company Avesco Rent in a number of senior roles, including CEO and Group CEO of rental.

The company added that the appointment is part of a Group strategy to enhance the integration between the companies and expand its presence in the international market.

In his new role, he will lead CGTE and the other Rental Service companies of the TESYA Group, including Alayan Rental and Emerent, operating in Spain and Portugal.

CGTE said, “Albasini’s appointment reflects the company’s desire to continue its growth path, focusing on entering new markets and consolidating its leadership in the rental sector.

Challenging factors 

Remaining in Europe, UK-based Speedy Hire said its half year results for 2024 are “satisfactory” following what it describes as challenging market conditions in some of the Group’s end markets.

It said its hire revenues for the period are consistent with H1 FY2024, although lower margin Services revenue is 5% down, impacted by a decline in fuel revenues caused by a fall in wholesale fuel prices.

Meanwhile, the Group said it had continued to invest in the business to deliver on its growth strategy and as part of its five-year Velocity transformation programme, adding that the “pipeline of new opportunities continues to grow” with further contracts in the second half to benefit revenues in FY2026.

One such contract is one with UK-based infrastructure services firm Amey announced in June this year to provide non-operated plant hire to Amey’s operations on a range of sector contracts including rail, highways and public estates.

United Rentals to make Bauma debut