Revenue for the year to 30th April 2022 was £725.7m (2021: £635.1m). It contributed an operating profit of £86.8m to parent company coffers, up from £60.9m in 2021.
Rental revenue was up 11% to £403m (2021: £362m).
Once again, nearly a third of Sunbelt’s UK revenue came from covid-related work for the Department of Health. Sunbelt has made about £400m from supplying equipment for covid-related services since the first outbreak. Following the end of free mass covid testing in April, Sunbelt UK is now demobilising the test sites rapidly and expects a relatively low revenue contribution from this in 2022/23.
“Support for the Department of Health has been a benefit to the UK business but also presented it with logistical and operational challenges,” the board said. “It remains focused on delivering operational efficiency and improving returns in the business and will seek to redeploy the assets dedicated to the testing centres elsewhere in the business.”
During the year Sunbelt UK decreased its number of stores from 188 to 177 but increased headcount to 3,983 (up from 3,777).
Sunbelt, formerly A-Plant, is owned by Ashtead Group, which now gets close to 90% of its revenues and 95% of its profits from its Sunbelt equipment operations in North America. Sunbelt USA has four times as many employees as Sunbelt UK generating more than six times the revenue.
Ashtead Group posted a pre-tax profit of US$ 1,668m for the year to 30th April 2022 (up 35% on the previous year) on revenue up 20% to US$ 7,962m.
Sunbelt/Ashtead claims a 12% market share in the USA, an 8% market share in Canada and a 10% market share in the UK.
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