The “Brit discount” does not apply to construction and industrial equipment rental giant Ashtead. The FTSE 100 group is valued more highly than its American rivals, so it is understandable that Brendan Horgan, the group’s boss, does not feel the need to reach for a US listing despite generating about 85 per cent of its revenue in the States.
That confidence is well founded. Guidance for rental revenue growth this year has been raised for a third time, to between 21 per cent and 23 per cent, on the back of a 25 per cent boost over the first nine months of the financial year. That’s not all higher rates, either. Of the 19 per cent organic increase in rental revenue, 11 percentage points came
