Equipment rental giant Ashtead Group Plc reported a 35% slump in first-quarter profit on Tuesday, as the construction sector came under severe pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coronavirus-related restrictions hammered demand and led to a freeze in activities of construction businesses around the world, although signs of recovery were seen as lockdowns eased.
“We expect full-year group rental revenue to be down mid to high single digits when compared with last year on a constant currency basis,” said Chief Executive Officer Brendan Horgan in a statement, assuming that there were no significant shutdowns due to a second wave of infections.
Ashtead gets around 90% of its sales and profit from the United States, with the rest largely coming from the company’s business in Britain.
The FTSE 100 company, which rents out diggers, construction tools and other equipment, said underlying pretax profit fell to 208 million pounds ($273.69 million) in the three months ended July 31, compared with 319 million pounds last year.
Rental revenue for the first quarter declined 8% to 1.08 billion pounds.
($1 = 0.7600 pounds)
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