Having put up its prices last year, Nationwide Platforms saw its rental revenues fall 1% to £110.2m (2014: £111.1m) but its profits improved.
Parent company Lavendon Group, which hires platforms across Europe and the Middle East, saw its annual revenue grow just 1% overall to £248.6m (2014: £246.3m). Worldwide rental revenue was £233.5m (2014: £231.9m).
Pre-tax profit was up 13% to £38.5m (2014: £34.1m), a record result for the company.
Overall UK revenue was little changed at £121.1m (2014: £120.1m). Underlying operating profit was £22.7m (2014: 20.4m), a margin improvement from 17% to 18.7%.
At the end of the year, Nationwide brought its platform delivery/collection service back in house. “We concluded that our outsourced transportation function was not delivering the expected customer service improvements at the expected cost and was restricting progress in our drive for greater operational efficiency,” chairman John Standen said. “Consequently we have decided to bring this function back under our direct control.”
There may be short-term repercussions, he warned. “This may cause some disruption and increase costs to the business in the short term, as we transition in-house,” he said. “However, we are confident that both our efficiency and customer satisfaction levels will improve over the year.”
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