With Help from Acquisitions, Alta Equipment’s Revenue Jumps 56.7 Percent in 2020
Alta Equipment continues its growth with $873.6 million in total revenue for 2020 compared to $557.4 million in 2019, a 56.7-percent increase fueled by eight acquisitions completed since the beginning of 2019 contributing $390 million of sales to 2020. Organically, revenue increased $15.9 million or 9.4 percent in 2020.
Rental revenue totaled $118.8 million in 2020, up from $95.2 million in 2019, a 24.8-percent hike. Rent-to-rent revenue decreased 3.4 percent organically, still a good achievement in a year dominated by COVID-19.
For the fourth quarter of 2020, Alta Equipment reported $280.4 million, compared to $169.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2019, a 65.5-percent increase. Rental revenue for the fourth quarter was $35.4 million compared to $28.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, a 25.1-percent jump.
Alta’s construction segment increased 8.2 percent organic growth in product support revenue in the fourth quarter year over year. In total revenue, the construction segment increased 31.8 percent organically year over year in the fourth quarter.
In the company’s material handling segment, total sales increased by 12.1 percent sequentially (compared to the third quarter).
Organic rental revenue increased sequentially by $2.5 million in the fourth quarter, a 7.8-percent increase. Alta now has 54 locations in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Virginia.
The company topped $1 billion on a pro forma basis. It completed seven acquisitions in the Material Handling and Construction businesses in 2020, contributing about $390 million in revenue to Alta’s 2020 financial results.
Alta ended the year with more than 900 skilled technicians, an increase of more than 250 technicians year over year and representing roughly half the company’s total headcount.
“Our strong fourth quarter operating performance and financial results capped off an incredibly successful year for Alta,” said Ryan Greenawalt, Alta Equipment CEO. “In the fourth quarter, we saw continued improvement in our Material Handling and Construction businesses as our recovery from the pandemic continues to take hold. Labor utilization improved over the third quarter and the demand for rental equipment rebounded. In looking at the full year, we were able to persevere in a difficult and unprecedented time through the dexterity of our business model and operational discipline. We were also able to complete seven accretive acquisitions that increased our existing market presence, expanded our product lines and OEM relationships, and complemented our organic growth.
“We’re encouraged by the positive trends in customer demand. We’ve re-branded our Material Handling business and added new services that will enable us to uniquely serve the fast-growing warehousing and logistics end markets. We believe the investments we made in technology, products, and people, combined with structural tailwinds in infrastructure and e-commerce, position us well to deliver increased financial results in 2021.”
In the fourth quarter, Alta completed the acquisition of the construction dealership assets of Vantage Equipment LLC on December 31, 2020. Vantage Equipment is a construction equipment dealer operating in Batavia, Syracuse and Albany, N.Y. The addition of Vantage strengthens Alta’s presence in New York state and complements Liftech which serves the Upstate New York material handling market.
On October 30, 2020, Alta completed the acquisition of Howell Tractor and Equipment LLC, a heavy construction equipment dealer serving Northern Illinois and Northwest Indiana.
Based in Livonia, Mich., Alta Equipment is No. 39 on the RER 100.
