Sunbelt Rentals, a London-listed company that serves construction, emergency response, and entertainment markets in the U.S., UK, and Canada, has released a handout photo showing an example of their equipment hire. Despite citing various reasons for its downbeat outlook, including a quieter hurricane season and fewer naturally occurring events such as wildfires, Ashtead competes with United Rentals in the U.S., renting out equipment from diggers to construction tools. The impact of the Hollywood actors’ and writer’s strikes affected its film and television business in Canada and had some impact on the rest of the Canadian, U.S., and UK businesses that rent into that space.
Ashtead operates under the name Sunbelt Rentals in its largest market, the U.S., expects its annual profit to come in below market expectations due to lower emergency response activity and a more than $2 billion depreciation charge for the year. As a result, Ashtead has lowered its annual group and U.S. rental revenue growth forecast and said net interest costs would amount to about $540 million for the year.