Mills up 20% in first quarter

Brazilian rental company Mills has reported strong rental revenues of R$131.9 million (€20.5 million) for the first quarter of 2021, up 19.9% on the same period in 2020, reflecting continued recovery from Covid-19.

Mills Solaris CEO Sergio Kariya said the fact that approximately 70% of Mills’ rental revenue derives from non-construction sectors such as industry, services and commerce had supported better than expected revenues during the instability of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, overall consolidated net revenue was R$153.6 million (€23.9 million), 21.8 % higher than the previous corresponding quarter and 3.7% higher than the fourth quarter of 2020.

Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA was R$54.3 million, (€8.5 million) 38.9% higher than the first quarter of 2020.

The first quarter of this year also ended with R$ 399.3 million (€62 million) in cash, and gross debt of R$ 201.7million (€31.4 million).

Kariya said liquidity and leverage capacity had positioned the company for inorganic growth, equipment purchases, fleet readjustment and technology investments.

He added that rising rental demand and strong utilisation rates for the first quarter of 2021 had spurred the company to continue updating its fleet of aerial platforms by initiating “the purchase of another 164 pieces of equipment, which will arrive throughout the year, actions that aim to improve the level of availability of the fleet and ensure an adequate customer service.”

Mills’ results announcement also confirmed that after the end of the first quarter this year, the company signed an agreement to acquire SK Rental do Brasil, an aerial platform rental company with a strong presence in Brazil’s southern region and a fleet of more than 300 units.

In April Mills subsidiary Solaris confirmed it had acquired 51% of Nest Locação e Revenda de Máquinas (Nest Rental), which specialises in low level access platform rental and is the exclusive distributor for JLG in that sector.