Rent Talk

The Impressive Things about Bauma

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:33:00 +0000

I just returned from the Bauma trade fair in Germany. It’s the third time I’ve attended it and I’m even more awestruck than the previous times and I’ll explain why as I go along in this blog.

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Synergies with Oilfield Rental

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 23:47:26 +0000

I was most intrigued by a small news story that a lot of people probably didn't notice: Canadian Equipment Rental Fund, or CERF, which owns 4-Way Equipment Rental and a couple of other companies in the booming oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta signed ...

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The Crisis is Still a Crisis in Spain

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 01:00:29 +0000

I am traveling in Spain for a dealer conference organized by Manitou for Manitou, Gehl and Mustang dealers the world over. Also attending are a variety of suppliers, customers, analysts, bankers and journalists. That in itself is another topic I'll get ...

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Good News in New Orleans

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:00:36 +0000

It was a nice change walking around the Rental Show in New Orleans last week and seeing and hearing a far more optimistic rental industry than we've seen for the past few years. I spoke with a lot of exhibitors and the majority of them were reporting ...

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M&A Market Heats Up with December Surprises

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:43:51 +0000

A lot of people were taken by surprise recently waking up to the news that United Rentals was acquiring RSC. In a conceptual sense, it wasn't surprising. People in the rental industry have expected some degree of consolidation at the top among major ...

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Showcase Fills a Niche

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:11:36 +0000

The Lift and Access Showcase event, held recently in Scottsdale, Ariz., was essentially the first trade show in North America exclusively devoted to aerial equipment. I don't know if event organizer Guy Ramsey and his staff necessarily thought of it in ...

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A Tier 4 Move by Komatsu

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:10:05 +0000

It is going to be a new era in equipment with the coming advent of Tier 4 Interim and then Tier 4 final engines, with equipment modified to accommodate those changes. The full effects have yet to be felt, since many manufacturers are really just ...

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Don't Jump Out the Window Yet

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:43:33 +0000

It was 1929. Twelve million people were out of work; 12,000 people became unemployed every day; 20,000 companies had gone bankrupt; 1,616 banks went bankrupt and 23,000 people committed suicide in one year. We're not seeing a lot of people jumping ...

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The Man Who Never Sits Still

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:42:22 +0000

Pat Olney once said he gets nervous if he's in one country longer than a week. The Canadian-born Olney, for those who don't recognize the name, is the president of Volvo Construction Equipment, and if you take look at what Volvo CE is doing around the ...

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Boom Times in California?

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:16:26 +0000

Since I live in California and people around the country are always asking me about the California economy, I thought I'd pass along some interesting information from a report issued this week from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA. The housing ...

Rent Talk

The Master Consolidator is on the Move Again

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:58:24 +0000

I anticipate acquisition activity will be strong over the next few months. This week Volvo Rents and Delta Rigging & Tools made acquisitions; a week or two ago it was RSC acquiring another aerial company in the northeast. Speaking of acquisitions, ...

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The RER 100 Turns 25!

Thu, 19 May 2011 00:13:12 +0000

The RER 100, which will be released next week, showed, to quote RSC's CEO Erik Olsson — and a nod to Charles Dickens — a tale of two halves. Most of the RER 100 companies spent the first half of 2010 in the doldrums, many feeling as though they had ...

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Is Social Media Worth the Effort?

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 03:13:09 +0000

Why should you bother with social media? One of the first things I suggest is take a look at the habits of teenagers. I have a teenage son and he sometimes can spend five or 10 or more hours a day chatting with his friends on Facebook and laughing at ...

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You Don't Need a Weatherman

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 01:38:56 +0000

After two very slow years at the Rental Show, it was quite a different story this time around. The attendance numbers have yet to be released as we go to press, but like the old Bob Dylan song that says “you don't need a weatherman to know which way the ...

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A 17 Percent Gain is Good News

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:17:10 +0000

So far in 2011 the news I'm hearing from most rental people has been pretty good. I'm looking forward to taking the pulse of the industry at the Rental Show next week, where ARA is reporting increased registration, another good sign. As some of you ...

Rent Talk