12.02.2013

New record for Ramirent

Finnish based international rental company Ramirent has issued its 2012 results which show record revenues for the year - up 9.9 percent to €714.1 million, while pre-tax profits jumped 36.4 percent to €82.9 million.

Looking at the fourth quarter revenues improved 3.9 percent, while pre-tax profits increased 6.9 percent to €24.4 million.

Capital expenditure in year fell 48.8 percent to €124 million, helping net debt to be reduced from €262.8 million to €239.4 million in the year.

Chief executive Magnus Rosén said: “The year 2012 was a good year for the Ramirent. Sales increased by 10 percent to all-time high level of €714 million and EBIT increased 25 percent to €92.3 million. Our financial position strengthened, our cash flow increased significantly and all financial targets were met. In the Nordic countries, activity levels held up well with Norway experiencing the strongest overall market conditions. In Central Europe, market conditions continued to weaken and we scaled down our operations both in number of employees and customer centres as well as relocated fleet capacity mainly to the Baltic area which saw a good recovery in demand in 2012. Our business continued to develop well also in Russia and Ukraine.”

“During the year we continued the work to develop a consistent business model to realise synergies in all operating countries. We further widened our customer portfolio finding new inroads to customers in industrial companies and municipalities. We also increased our emphasis on environment, safety, health and quality in the customised solutions we provide to our customers. I also wish to thank our employees for their strong drive in increasing the efficiency of our operations. We have reached all-time high sales with a workforce of 3,000 professionals compared to 4,000 persons in 2008 when sales peaked at €704 million.”

Entering 2013, the economic situation continues to be uncertain. We will continue to pursue sustainable, profitable growth of net sales. We shall develop operations of high quality where the customer always comes first and further lower the risk level in our operation. We added flexibility to our cost base and business model, and we are well prepared for managing different future market scenarios. Although we do not expect material changes in key markets in the first half of 2013, we aim to be cautious with capital expenditure, to have strict cost control and to maintain a strong balance sheet. We aim to continue our focus on excellent customer relationship management and flexible operations. Adding to this our strong product offering and an extensive customer centre network, we believe that we are in a good position to adapt to possible changes in market conditions entering into 2013.”

Vertikal Comment

This is an excellent result with the company continuing to make strong progress in spite of some challenges in parts of Eastern Europe. This puts the company firmly ahead of Cramo in terms of revenues and profits and close on the tail of Loxam to qualify as the largest rental company in Europe.

The challenge now is where to look for more growth, and perhaps Russia may be the answer having merged its operations with Cramo. The company has done exceptionally well in recent years to post solid revenue and profit gains from organic growth.

2013 will be an interesting year for the business.