British aerial rental specialist Lavendon Group last week posted a 26-percent increase in first-quarter revenues and said it is trading in line with expectations. The company said its U.K. revenues in the first quarter increased 16 percent and that it expects its rate of growth to accelerate during the remainder of the year.

Lavendon said the German businesses it acquired last year are now fully integrated and, while revenues softened in the quarter by 3 percent because of integration activities and the early Easter, the operation is firmly on track to deliver annualized cost savings of £2.5 million as well as margin improvement in 2008.

Lavendon said it had strong revenue increases in Spain and its French and Belgian businesses after the acquisition of DK Rental in December 2007. Its Middle East revenues grew 12 percent with rental revenues growing 35 percent.

Lavendon is based in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, England.

The company also recently acquired The Platform Group, a major U.K. aerial rental company.