Since the global coronavirus hit, Sunbelt has made more than £400m from supplying equipment for temporary testing centres in the UK, accounting for nearly a third of its revenues. However, this has now come to an end; Sunbelt has now demobilised and is seeking to redeploy assets.
In the three months of May to July this year, Sunbelt UK’s total revenues decreased 4% to £182m (2021: £190m), with just 16% of revenue in the period coming from the Department of Health. Sunbelt UK’s profit for the quarter was down 16% to £26m (2021: £31m) at a margin of 14.2% (2021: 16.5%).
Excluding the impact of the work for the Department of Health, rental only revenue increased 19%.
Brendan Horgan, chief executive of parent company Ashtead, said: “The UK business remains focused on delivering operational efficiency and improving returns in the business. However, this year will be a transition year as we accelerated the demobilisation of the assets dedicated to the Department of Health testing centres and look to redeploy them elsewhere in the business.”
Most of Ashtead’s revenue comes from Sunbelt operations in North America, where growth continues. As a result, group revenue for the quarter increased 22% to US $2,259m (2021: $1,852m) and adjusted profit before tax increased 27% to $555m (2021: $437m).
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