Strongco Posts 15.3-Percent Q4 Revenue Hike as Western Canada Rebounds
Canadian distributor Strongco posted CDN $93.6 million in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to $81.2 million in the same period of 2016, a 15.3-percent improvement. For the full year revenues were almost even at $356 million in 2017 compared to $361.3 million, a 1.5-percent decline.
Equipment rental revenue for the full year was $16.8 million compared to $15.4 million in 2016, a 9-percent increase. In western Canada, ranging from Manitoba to British Columbia, equipment rental leapt 60 percent, from $3 million in 2016 to $4.8 in 2017. In Ontario, rental revenue jumped from $6 million in 2016 to $6.7 million in 2017, an 11.7 percent increase. However, in eastern Canada, including Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, revenue dropped from $6.4 million in 2016 to $5.3 million in 2017, a 17.2-percent slide.
Rental revenues were higher in Ontario (central) and western Canada as demand for equipment increased and more customers chose to rent as markets continued to recover.
“2017 was a successful transition year for Strongco, following the restructuring initiatives that commenced in 2016,” said Strongco executive chairman Robert Beutel. “We’re pleased with the progress we are seeing to simplify and stabilize the business, as the performance improvements in 2017 were driven by core brand sales and increases in rentals and product support. While we are seeing improved activity in key markets, the progress is gradual and challenges are real. The successful execution of our strategy has Strongco well positioned to build market share today and in the years ahead.”
Strongco sold a large crane order to the Champlain Bridge project in Quebec in 2016. Excluding that project, year-over-year revenues increased by $22.5 million because of higher sales of construction equipment across the country, higher sales of used equipment, especially in western Canada, and increased rental revenues, particularly in western and central Canada. Strong also had higher product support sales in western and eastern Canada.
Strongco is one of the largest multiline mobile equipment distributors in Canada, selling and renting new and used equipment and providing parts and service to customers in infrastructure, construction, mining, oil and gas exploration, forestry and industrial markets. Primary lines include Volvo CE, Case Corp., Manitowoc Crane Group and others.
Strongco is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.