DLR reports 12.5% rental fall in France in 2020

French rental and distributors association DLR has reported a 12.5% decline in the French equipment rental market last year, largely as a result of the pandemic. The reduction in rental market revenues to €4.19 billion comes after four years of strong rental growth.

DLR’s annual market report also highlights a 4.7% reduction in the rental workforce in France over the year, with 27,500 staff now working in the sector, slightly higher than in 2018.

Capital investment by French rental companies was 50% down at €754 million euros in 2020. Despite this decline, the average fleet age was slightly younger last year at 47 months compared to 49 months in 2019. The total value of the rental fleet fell to €7.6 billion, from € 8.6 billion in 2019.

The rental sector was impacted worse than either equipment sales or the industrial forklift sector, according to DLR. The organisation said that construction equipment sales were down 6.5% in terms of revenue turnover in 2020, although new equipment sales were down by 13%.

Sales and rental of industrial material handling equipment – mainly forklifts – fell by 2.2% in 2020, with new equipment sales down 5%. An increase of 4% in forklift rental and by 11% in used equipment were not enough to offset the reduction in new equipment sales.