LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Industrial equipment rental company Ashtead Group plc (AHT.L), in its COVID-19 trading update on Monday, said it now expects underlying profit before tax for the year ending April 30 to be about 1.05 billion pounds.
The company said it was trading in line with expectations in the beginning of March, and this continued through the second week of March with limited impact from the consequences of the COVID-19 virus pandemic.
However, since the middle of March, the various actions taken by governments and the private sector to contain the virus has resulted in adverse conditions within its end markets.
Although trading volumes have been impacted negatively by various measures, this has been mitigated partly by emergency response efforts throughout business units, mainly specialty businesses.
The company's locations in the US, UK and Canada remain open and active with few exceptions.
Rental-only revenue for Sunbelt US in March was 2 percent higher than prior year, while April US rental-only revenue is expected to be about 15 percent lower. This is due principally to the general tool business being about 18 percent lower than prior year.
The broader based specialty businesses are expected to be about 9 percent higher than last year, consistent with their performance in March.
Since 10 April, the company said it has seen the level of US fleet on rent stabilise and show a modest improvement. This positive trend follows a period of consistent decline over the previous four weeks. This recent trend in fleet on rent is similar in UK and Canadian businesses.
The company further said it has not made any team members redundant as a result of the impact of COVID-19 and currently do not intend to seek assistance from the UK government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Ashtead remains in a strong financial position with long-term committed debt facilities.
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