For the 27 week period ended 2nd July 2016, HSS Hire Group made a pre-tax loss of 拢9.8m. For the same period in 2015 it lost 拢14.1m, although that figure include 拢3.0m exceptional expenses relating to February 2015鈥檚 initial public offering. Finance expenses were 拢12.8m the first half of last year and 拢7.2m this time around.
At an operating level, however, losses actually widened to 拢2.6m (2015 H1: 拢1.5m loss).
Revenue was up 13.5% to 拢166.2m (2015 H1: 拢146.4m).
Exceptional costs this year include 拢5.9m spent on setting up a new National Distribution and Engineering Centre, which now supports 50% of the branch network.
Despite deteriorating margins, the board said that it was making 鈥榮ignificant progress鈥� and that the losses were 鈥榤ainly due to exceptional costs associated with strategy execution鈥�.
Chief executive John Gill said: "We are confident our new National Distribution and Engineering Centre will position us well for scale and volume growth and, combined with our e-commerce platform and national branch footprint, will further enhance our customer proposition by transforming availability within our sector. The board believes we are well positioned to take advantage of, and continues to look for, opportunities to increase scale for the benefit of customers and shareholders."
However, the biggest shareholder in HSS wants it to merge with Speedy. owns or represents 18% of HSS shares and 19% of Speedy. The chairmen of the two companies have had several meetings to explore merging but have so far from their major shareholder.
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