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Delivery switch pays off for access giant

26 Aug 16 Nationwide Platforms, the UK’s biggest powered access hire firm with more than 10,000 machines, has reported growing rental revenues and profits for the first half of 2016, despite dropping its prices.

Lavendon Group plc, which operates as Nationwide in the UK, reported that its UK rental revenues in the six months to 30th June 2016 increased by 7% to £57.2m (2015: £53.3m) with underlying operating profit increasing by 8% to £9.5m (2015: £8.8m) and margins improving to 15.7% (2015: 15.2%).

Revenue growth, which increased as the year progressed, was driven by winning business from smaller competitors. These gains “more than absorbed a 3% year on year softening in pricing”, the company said.

Moving transport operations – the delivery and collection of machines from customers’ sites – back in-house had generated significant efficiency gains, it said. “These operational efficiency improvements have increased the availability of the UK fleet by almost 5% in the first half, effectively releasing around 500 extra machines for hire.”

The UK accounts for 45% of Lavendon’s group rental revenues. The company as a whole reported a 13% rise in group revenue for the first half to £134.2m (2015: £119.1m) and pre-tax profit up 10% to £15.9m (2015: £14.5m).

Net debt climbed 25% during the six-month period to reach £148.9m.

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