After a 3% decline in the third quarter, business recovered a little in the fourth quarter to leave the year flat overall with rental revenue the same as 2011.
This was achieved only thanks to a rate rise in 2011 manage to just about stick, as volumes declined.
“Whilst the rate of our annualised pricing improvement from 2011 has been progressively unwinding during the year, it has still proved sufficient to compensate for the lower year on year volumes seen across the 12 months,” the company said.
Nationwide currently accounts for 48% of the total revenue of parent company Lavendon, which also has rental operations in mainland Europe and the Middle East. Across the group, revenue was up 4% in 2012.
In a trading update this morning, Lavendon said that its full year results for 2012 would be at the upper end of the board's expectations.
Chief executive Don Kenny said: “The group has continued to make good progress in 2012, despite the challenging trading conditions in many of our European markets. The encouraging growth we are seeing in our French and Middle East businesses, together with the actions we have taken to improve our overall operational and capital efficiencies are delivering improvements in the group's profitability, margins and ROCE. The board therefore expects the group's results for 2012 to be at the upper end of its expectations, and looks forward to making further progress in 2013."
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