GREENWICH, Conn. — Although net income for United Rentals was down from last year's first quarter, the company still exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts for this period. While net income was $3.4 million, 4 cents a share, compared to $17.4 million, 19 cents a share, a year ago analysts had, on average, estimated earnings per share for United at 3 cents for the first quarter, according to research firm Thomson Financial/First Call.

United officials attributed the results to a planned decrease in used equipment sales and to the company's increasing involvement in the traffic-safety segment of the rental business, which is highly seasonal and does the bulk of its business in the second and third quarters. Chief operations officer Wayland Hicks said the traffic-safety order book was more than $220 million at the end of March, up about 24 percent from the same time last year.

United reported total revenue of $619 million, a 7 percent increase from the $579 million reported for last year's first quarter. Rental revenue was $461.4 million, up 15.3 percent from $400.1 million a year ago. Same store rental revenue increased 8.2 percent.

The company continues to make progress in its national accounts program. Since the beginning of the year, United has added 228 new national accounts, Jacobs said, bringing its stable of national accounts customers to more than 1400. Equipment utilization in the quarter was 53.8 percent, and sharing of equipment among branches accounted for 9.8 percent of total revenue.

United officials also noted progress in their efforts to raise rental rates. “We've had large rate increases in the Rocky Mountain region, in the New York Tri-State area, in New England and Eastern Canada,” Hicks said. “They've also improved in the Southeast where rates were very tough the past few years.”

Hicks added that while performance in the Northeast, Southeast and West Coast has exceeded the company's expectations, the Midwest region has been lower than expected, because of softening in the automotive market.

United Rentals is No. 1 on the RER 100, with 2000 rental revenue of $2.06 million. It has about 750 locations in North America.