Since the global coronavirus hit, Sunbelt has made more than 拢400m from supplying equipment for temporary testing centres in the UK, accounting for nearly a third of its revenues. However, this has now come to an end; Sunbelt has now demobilised and is seeking to redeploy assets.
In the three months of May to July this year, Sunbelt UK鈥檚 total revenues decreased 4% to 拢182m (2021: 拢190m), with just 16% of revenue in the period coming from the Department of Health. Sunbelt UK鈥檚 profit for the quarter was down 16% to 拢26m (2021: 拢31m) at a margin of 14.2% (2021: 16.5%).
Excluding the impact of the work for the Department of Health, rental only revenue increased 19%.聽
Brendan Horgan, chief executive of parent company Ashtead, said: 鈥淭he UK business remains focused on delivering operational efficiency and improving returns in the business.聽 However, this year will be a transition year as we accelerated the demobilisation of the assets dedicated to the Department of Health testing centres and look to redeploy them elsewhere in the business.鈥�
Most of Ashtead鈥檚 revenue comes from Sunbelt operations in North America, where growth continues. As a result, group revenue for the quarter increased 22% to US $2,259m (2021: $1,852m) and adjusted profit before tax increased 27% to $555m (2021: $437m).
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