30.01.2025

Another record year for United

US based United rentals has posted record results for 2024, with revenues of more than $15 billion.

Full year Numbers
Total revenues for the year increased 7.2 percent to $15.36 billion of which rentals were 13 billion, an eight percent improvement on last year. Other sectors of the business were roughly flat or marginally higher.

Pre-tax profit for the year was $3.39 billion, just under four percent up on last year.
Capital expenditure for the full year came in at just over $3.575 billion, slightly higher than last year increasing roughly 1.5 percent while sales from the rental fleet were around 3.5 percent lower than in 2023 at $1.52 billion.

Fourth Quarter
Total revenues in the final quarter came in 10 percent higher than last year at $4.1 billion, an increase of just over 10 percent. Of this, rental revenues were 9.5 percent higher at $3.42 billion.

Pre-tax profit edged up just under 1.5 percent to $909 million, due to higher costs throughout, plus a steep rise in the interest costs.

Forecast for 2025

The company is forecasting revenues for the year of $15.6 to $16.1 billion with capital expenditure in the region of $3.9 billion.

Chief executive Matthew Flannery said: “In 2024, we doubled down on being the partner of choice for our customers and I am very pleased with our team’s success. Their commitment was critical to achieving the growth we delivered across this past year, which culminated in fourth-quarter records across revenue, EBITDA and earnings. Our unique value proposition, which includes prioritising safety and productivity for our customers, supported our 2024 results and provides the foundation of our strategy to drive sustainable long-term value for our shareholders.”

“We are now focused on 2025 and putting our playbook to work to drive another year of profitable growth, strong free cash flow and attractive shareholder returns. Today’s guidance reflects our stand-alone expectations for continued growth, supported by numerous factors including both the demand we’ve carried into the new year and customer optimism. We look forward to the year ahead, including closing on our acquisition of H&E and welcoming those team members to United Rentals.”

Vertikal Comment

Another record year for United, its numbers are quite frankly mind boggling for a rental business, no matter which ones you focus on. There are some signs of slowing, but that is not surprising given the size of the business. The percentages gains compared to last year may be small, but the dollars are still substantial. Later this year H&E is likely to come on board providing a further substantial boost.

The downside is that as with last year pre-tax profits have lagged behind the revenue growth in percentage terms.

But once again a positive report overall.