Highlights
Group rental revenue up 24%
Record Group pre-tax profit of £362m, up 50% at constant exchange rates
Group EBITDA margin improves to 42% (2013: 38%)
£741m of capital invested in the business (2013: £580m)
Group RoI of 19% (2013: 16%)
Net debt to EBITDA leverage of 1.8 times (2013: 1.9 times)
Proposed final dividend of 9.25p making 11.5p for the year (2013: 7.5p)
Ashtead's chief executive, Geoff Drabble, commented:
"2013/14 was a very successful year for the Group, enabling us to deliver record twelve month underlying pre-tax profits of £362m, up 50% from the prior year. It is particularly pleasing that we achieved this growth whilst also delivering on our long-stated commitments of return on investment progression, now 19% for the Group, and maintaining debt leverage below 2 times EBITDA.
Our performance reflects the benefits of the consistent execution of our strategy focussed largely on organic growth, supplemented by greenfield openings and bolt-on acquisitions. We invested £741m in our rental fleet and a further £103m on acquisitions during the year. We anticipate growing our fleet in the coming year in the low to mid teens percent range and will continue to open greenfields and make bolt-ons to further grow our market share and profitability. Current planning suggests around 50 new locations in the new financial year, another measured step towards our medium term objective of 600 locations.
With both divisions performing well and beginning to enjoy recovering markets, we are well positioned for further growth and the Board looks forward to the medium term with continued confidence."
