All Business & Finance Articles

JCB has begun a £36 million (€ 54 million) project to double the capacity of its backhoe loader plant at Ballabgarh, near New Delhi, India.

Coates Hire is to be acquired by private equity firm The Carlyle Group and National Hire Group for A$2,2 billion, including A$525 of Coates' net debt, equivalent to A$6,70 per share. Coates had rejected two previous bids from Carlyle and National Hire, but said it is now recommending the improved offer to shareholders.

IRN has teamed up with rental finance consultant Jeff Eisenberg to create a set of benchmark finance figures for the global rental sector. The first set of figures - published in this issue - reveal that that the average after tax profit margin for major rental companies is 6,5%.

Finland's Cramo has entered a joint venture with Russian crane rental company ZAO Rentakran that will see Rentakran renting general construction equipment to its customers from its three existing branches in Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Krasnodar.

Swedish rental company Lambertsson has become part of a new publicly listed Peab Industri business following the separation of Peab into two public companies.

International Rental News (IRN) is now conducting research for its annual Rental Confidence Survey.

Chinese compact construction equipment manufacturer Hunan Sunward Intelligent Machinery Co Ltd has acquired a majority stake of its European distributor, Hpm Europe Spa, based in Milan, Italy.

How does your financial performance compare to your competitors? Finance specialist Jeff Eisenberg analyses the performance of the largest 100 equipment rental companies in theworld –the IRN– 100 – and calculates a set of benchmark numbers for the equipment rental industry.

IRN-100 Financials

Mini excavators in the sub 3 t category are enjoying a surging popularity, as rental companies respond to demand from their customers who recognise their benefits-simplicity, versatility and affordability. The last 12 months has seen a flurry of activity in the mini-excavator sector, as Kate Barker reports.

Thinking about starting out on your own? Brian Dennis, who established his own tool rental company in Portugal before selling it last year, summarises the lessons he learned when he established his business.

The first Europlatform conference for access rental professionals took place in Basel, Switzerland, on 11 September, and was attended by over 100 rental company managers, equipment dealers and manufacturers. The event was jointly organised by IRN's sister magazine, Access International, and the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF). Murray Pollok reports.

Access rental companies should extend the life span of machines to maximize the value of their businesses, said Kevin Appleton, chief executive of Lavendon, the world's biggest access–only rental company, at Europlatform.

Steve Shaughnessy, managing director of UK rental company A-Plant's specialty businesses division, drew on his extensive experience of the US access rental sector to highlight some of the key differences in approach from Europe.

An ERA committee is trying to review and standardize General Rental Conditions for the European rental market. It's a difficult task, so what progress are they making?

Euroloc's acquisition of Spanish aerial platform company UMESA in early August, for an undisclosed price, will transform the company into a +9000 unit access operation.

Tanfield is to use the UpRight brand in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Snorkel for North America and Austral asia. The twin brand strategy follows Tanfield's successful acquisition of US manufacturer Snorkel last month.

Skyjack has agreed to buy Canadian telehandler manufacturer Care Lift Equipment, based in Breslau, Ontario, for an undisclosed sum. Skyjack says the Carelift products complement its own scissor and boom lifts well, allowing it to offer a fuller range of machines to rental companies.

Spain's Euroloc is now one of Europe's biggest access rental companies, having acquired both Nacanco Spain and Umesa in the past four months. Murray Pollok spoke to Pedro Torres, the ex–Nacanco man who will run Euroloc's access division.