Rental rates up 10% at H&E

US rental company H&E Equipment Services said its average rental rate in the third quarter of 2022 was 10.1% higher than a year ago, and up 3.2% on the second quarter.

Rate increases as well as strong fleet utilisation and fleet growth saw the the company report 17.7% growth in revenues to US$324.3 million and a 55.2% increase in net profits to $38.4 million. EBITDA profits rose by 24.1% to $139.4 million.

H&E’s corporate headquarters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Brad Barber, CEO of H&E, said the company expected “favourable industry fundamentals” for the rest of 2022 and into 2023; “This promising outlook is supported by a backlog of projects in the non-residential construction and industrial end markets that continue to sustain strong customer demand.”

Barber said that supply chain constraints were constricting the availability of rental equipment, which reinforced what he called a “fundamentally sound business environment, leading to solid fleet utilisation and favourable pricing trends.”

He said H&E would benefit in 2023 from numerous infrastructure jobs as well as projects to expand manufacturing capabilities and renewable energy.

During the third quarter, the company opened four new rental locations and acquired One Source Equipment Rentals, which added 10 sites in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.

Barber added; “With more openings expected in the fourth quarter, we are confident in achieving our goal of no less than 10 new locations in 2022. In less than two years, we have added 28 locations to our branch network and now operate 120 branches across 29 states.”

The financial results above exclude H&E’s crane rental business, which was sold to Manitowoc in October 2021.