23.10.2024

record quarter for United

US rental company United Rentals has posted another record quarter in terms of revenues, which exceeded $11 billion over the past nine months.

YTD

Total revenues for the nine months to the end of September were $11.25 billon, an increase of six percent over the same period in 2023. All parts of the business contributed to the increase, apart from sales of equipment from the rental fleet which declined slightly on last year but remained close to $1.1 billion.

Pre-tax profits for the period improved almost 6.5 percent to $2.48 billion.

Third Quarter

Third quarter revenues increased by a slightly more modest six percent to $3.99 billion, with pre-tax profits improving slightly to $943 million- a rise of around one percent.

Capex

Capital expenditure on rental equipment increased just over eight percent on the same period last year to $3.29 billion.

The company has also increased its full year capital expenditure of between $3.55 and $3.75 billion.

Full year forecast

United is foresting record full year revenues of $15.10 to $15.30 billion.

Chief executive Matthew Flannery said: “We were pleased with our record third quarter results, which were in-line with our expectations and reflected continued growth across both our construction and industrial end-markets. Our one stop shop strategy, supported by world class service and innovative solutions, is helping our customers achieve their goals across safety, productivity and sustainability. The hard work of our dedicated team members enables us to continue to lead the industry.”

“As we enter the home stretch of 2024, we’re happy to reaffirm the mid-points of our guidance across all metrics. Longer-term, we remain optimistic on the multiple secular tailwinds we see, particularly across large projects. I’m very proud of the company we’ve built, supported by a well-proven strategy focused on profitable growth, strong free cash flow generation and prudent capital allocation. This is how we will continue to drive compelling long-term value for our shareholders.”

Vertikal Comment

Here we go again with another strong increase in revenues from United, although the percentage might be small compared to last year, this year it comes mostly from organic growth and still around totals $650 million –equivalent to the total sales of a decent size rental company.

The downside is that for the second year running pre-tax profits are lagging behind the revenue growth.

But positive report overall.