ASHTEAD GROUP
Rise in group rental revenue 20%
Ashtead shares have fallen by a fifth from their peak in May amid concerns over the slowdown in the oil and gas sector in the United States, as evidenced by its rival there, United Rentals. There has been a fallout, too, from the difficulties experienced by HSS Hire and Speedy Hire in Britain, a bit less than 10 per cent of the group.
This, frankly, makes no sense whatsoever. The latter two’s problems are largely company-specific and the UK construction market continues to expand, as witness the PMI figures only yesterday, despite some hiatus in public sector work around the election.
In the US, Ashtead gets only 3 per cent of its business at its Sunbelt operation