Ramirent makes Swedish acquisition and announces Polish DIY initiative

Ramirent is to acquire Hyrman i Lund AB in Sweden, a seven depot rental company with annual revenues of around €15 million and operating mainly in the Halland and Scania regions in the south of the country.

At the same time, Ramirent has announced a partnership in Poland with Leroy Merlin (LM) that will see it establish rental desks inside LM stores in the country.

Of the Swedish acquisition, Peter Dahlsten, senior vice president Ramirent Sweden, said; "The acquisition complements our current outlet network. We now have a much better coverage in Southern Sweden and will be closer to our customers."

Johnny Svensson, managing director of Hyrman i Lund, said; "We began looking for a bigger partner, and Ramirent turned out to be the best candidate. Our operations have developed well, but we needed bigger muscles in order to take the next step and to meet the growth expectations of the industry. We believe that this is a good solution for our employees and our company".

Ramirent is the second largest machinery rental company in Sweden with annual net sales of €145 million in 2010 and now with 80 depots in the country.

Meanwhile, Ramirent's link-up in Poland with builders merchants and DIY store specialist Leroy Merlin has seen it establish shop-in-shop outlets at three LM stores in Warsaw, Poznań and Szczecin. LM has a total of 35 stores in Poland.

"The main objective of our cooperation with Leroy Merlin is to widen our customer base to small entrepreneurs and private individuals", said Tomasz Walawender, senior vice president, Europe Central, "At the same time, we are expanding our light machinery product offering and our presence in the tool hire market, which has a very low penetration rate in Poland today.

"So far, we have seen really high interest among customers and we are confident that there is a huge potential in the private customer market".

Marcin Wójtowicz, shop manager at Leroy Merlin, said; "We are introducing a new shop-in-shop concept in Poland in order to make life easier for our customers, who can now hire tools in addition to finding the right DIY solutions from our comprehensive product offering.

"Our first experiences are promising, as our customers have shown high interest in Ramirent's rental offering and already there's a waiting list for some of the tools."

Ramirent started renting in Poland in 2000 and now has around 40 depots throughout the country plus the three shop-in-shop outlets.