Speedy Hire has issued a profit warning despite it performing “resiliently in the face of cost inflation and macroeconomic uncertainty”
The Newton-le-Willows-headquartered company said it has been impacted by “weakness in some of our end markets and seasonal product lines, and some delays in mobilisation of significant contract wins”.
In November, Speedy Hire announced its half-year revenue had been cut from £214.8m to £208.5m and its pre-tax profits had fallen from £13.2m to £5.6m.
At the time the board said that it remained “confident of delivering results for the full year, albeit at the lower end of its expectations”.
In a statement issued to the London Stock Exchange, Speedy Hire said: “The challenges faced across much of the construction sector mean that revenues from our national customers are now up 3 per cent year-on-year as at end of the third quarter, compared to +five per cent at the end of H1, whilst revenues from our regional customers have continued to track 6 per cent down year on year, unchanged from the position reported at H1.
“The warmer winter period has also impacted our revenue from seasonal products, despite us being ready for the usual cold weather and the important support we provide to our customers.
“At the same time, we continue to see revenue growth from opportunities with both new and existing national customers and, in the third quarter, we secured over £40m of annualised revenue from new multi-year contracts.
“These contracts represent attractive growth opportunities but have taken longer to mobilise, due to contract specific delays.
“Therefore, new contract revenues will have only marginal benefit in FY24 with the full effect coming in FY25.
“We are pleased by these contract wins and have a strong pipeline of opportunities. This new business has been secured with good pricing discipline and demonstrates the attractiveness of Speedy’s customer offering.”