Middle East Growth Helps Lavendon Stay in Line With Expectations
Aug. 30, 2013
Lavendon Group, U.K.-based powered access rental specialist posted flat results for the first six months of 2013 ended June 30. Total revenue declined less than 1 percent from £114.5 million a year ago to £113.6 million (about U.S. $176 million) this year. Rental revenue increased 1.4 percent from £106.6 million in the first six months of last year to £108.1 million (about $167 million) this year. Strong growth in France and the Middle East offset softer market conditions in other regions.The group’s underlying profit increased by 2 percent, boosting margins from 11.9 percent in 2012 to 12.2 percent this year.“The Group has made further good process in the first half of the year with our financial results in line with the board’s expectations,” said Lavendon chief executive Don Kenny. “There has been a continued improvement in our profitability from relatively stable revenues. The benefit of the group’s geographic diversification combined with the continued delivery of operational and efficiency gains and a more effective capital base has delivered a 50bps year-on-year improvement in our key performance metric, ROCE.”Kenny added Lavendon will allocate additional capital to the Middle East business during the second half of the year “given the returns available across the region.”Lavendon, based in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, U.K., has operations in the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, France, Bahrain, India, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
