Speedy Hire eyes annual earnings decline in 'subdued' conditions

Speedy Hire PLC on Thursday guided full-year earnings lower against a struggling market backdrop, but maintained an optimistic long-term view.

The Merseyside, England-based equipment hire firm’s shares slumped 13% to 19.20 pence on Thursday morning in London.

Speedy Hire in November had said it expected ‘a continuation of subdued market conditions’ for the remainder of financial 2026, which ended on Tuesday.

The company on Thursday added: ‘Market conditions have worsened through Q4 with uncertainty around the UK budget in November and the recent geopolitical events in the Middle East. The group has also seen certain customer led delays, affecting hire and service revenues, which are now expected to impact positively in the near term.’

Consequently, Speedy Hire now sees annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation around the £90 million mark. In financial 2025, Ebitda grew 0.3% on-year to £97.1 million.

During the first half that ended September 30, pretax loss widened to £15.1 million from £2.2 million, as distribution and administrative costs rose 7.9% to £116.8 million from £108.2 million.

Analysts at Panmure Liberum said they expected Speedy Hire to report ‘a small loss before tax’ in financial 2026. Pan Liberum noted that ‘markets are challenging but there are ample opportunities’, and maintained a ’buy’ rating for Speedy Hire, but reduced its take-profit order to 35p from 50p.

For its part, Speedy Hire stressed that it had made ‘significant’ progress over the course of the year, entering a commercial agreement with Proservice Building Services Marketplace PLC. The deal is expected to generate £50 million to £55 million in revenue and ‘be significantly earnings accretive in its first full year of trading’, Speedy Hire said.

Panmure Liberum analysts backed this view, noting the Proservice deal as ‘highly accretive’ from financial 2027.

Speedy Hire estimated net debt as of March 31 at £159 million, including £35 million invested in ProService, which compares to £113.1 million on-year. Looking to financial 2027, the company eyes ‘meaningful’ deleveraging, ‘as a result of strong operating cash flow’. In financial 2025, it had reported leverage of 1.9 times, and set its target range between 1.0x and 2.0x going forward.

‘Notwithstanding our caution around ongoing economic and geopolitical events, the board remains confident of its outlook for financial 2027 and beyond,’ Speedy Hire added on Thursday.

The company’s annual results are due June 17.

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