One of the great success stories of the economic recovery is powering ahead, with soaring profits and shares hitting new highs.
Ashtead, one of the lowest-profile companies in the FTSE 100, which it joined last Christmas, hires out plant and equipment to the construction industry. With more than four fifths of its business in the United States, where the construction recovery is in full swing and at seven-year highs, Ashtead reported a 22 per cent leap in group revenues to £417 million in the first quarter to the end of July during which it made pre-tax profits of £120 million.
That is an increase of 33 per cent on a year ago and is almost equal to full-year group earnings reported in 2012.
Ashtead’s figures also show a strong performance in Britain where it trades as A-Plant. “We clearly set out [to investors] what would happen and in the main we have got it right,” Geoff Drabble, Ashtead’s chief executive, said.
Shares in Ashtead rose 35½p to £10.22, valuing the company at £5.1 billion.