United grows once more

United Rentals has reaped the rewards from acquisitions made last year after announcing a year-on-year total revenues increase of 27.8% for the first quarter of 2018.

A total of US$1.73 billion was registered by United – the biggest rental company in the world – while it also saw its rental revenues grow 25.1% for the same period, to US$1.45 billion.

Last year the company acquired NES Rentals and Neff Corp in mega-money deals, aiding the company’s growth in the first quarter of 2018 on a year-on-year basis.

Net income rose 67.8% compared with the first quarter of 2017, to US$183 million, which included a benefit associated with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that was enacted in December 2017. The Tax Act reduced the US federal corporate statutory tax rate from 35% to 21%.

The board of directors at United have authorised a new US$1.25 billion share repurchase programme which it said would begin once the company had completed US$832 million of repurchases under the existing programme, which the company intends to complete by mid-2018.

Michael Kneeland, CEO, United Rentals, said, “We reported a good start to the year, with both rates and volumes benefiting from broad-based demand. Our specialty segment continued to outperform, aided by strong market growth and cross-selling opportunities, and trends remained positive in Canada.

“We’re also pleased with the progress the team has made integrating Neff, where we remain on-track to deliver our 2018 synergies goals. Combined, we are well positioned for the seasonal upturn in customer activity.”

Kneeland added that all indicators at the company pointed to growth. The company has estimated 2018 revenues of US$7.3 billion to US$7.6 billion, with an adjusted EBTDA ranging from US$3.6 billion to US$3.75 billion.