SPEEDY HIRE PLC

Board/Management Information • Jul 1, 2015

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RNS Number : 7917R

Speedy Hire PLC

01 July 2015

Speedy Hire Plc

("Speedy", "the Company" or "the Group")

Trading Update and Board Changes

1 July 2015

Speedy, the UK's leading tools, equipment and plant hire services company, operating across the construction, infrastructure and industrial markets, today issues a trading update following a slower than expected start to the current financial year ending 31 March 2016 (FY2016).

A Board-initiated review identified the following factors which contributed to the poor revenue performance:

·      A lack of available equipment during the network optimisation programme

·      A focus on strategic accounts at the expense of SME customers

·      Poor customer service caused by disruption during the implementation of a new IT and MI system

Whilst core hire trading across strategic accounts remains strong, without an improvement in revenue trend, and ahead of any delivery of the remedial programmes, the result for FY2016 will be materially below the Board's expectations for FY2016 and the reported result for FY2015.

Further to our recent announcements regarding the sale of the remaining Oil & Gas business in the Middle East, discussions with the third party concerned have not reached a satisfactory conclusion and have been discontinued. The Board continues to explore and evaluate options for this business which, as previously advised, is operating at a break even position.

Mark Rogerson has decided to step down as Chief Executive Officer.  Jan Åstrand, who was appointed non-executive Chairman in late-2014, has assumed the role of Executive Chairman and intends to revert to non-executive status at the time of the announcement of HY 2016 results in November 2015.  Russell Down, Group Finance Director, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect and will also retain the finance role until a replacement is appointed.

Jan Åstrand commented:

"This is extremely disappointing.  I believe that Speedy remains a fundamentally good business but, whilst some progress has been made over the last year, the remedial action programmes have not been delivered as needed.

Our immediate priority is to accelerate the execution of those programmes and realise the upside we believe they will deliver over the medium term.  Additionally, we will increase our focus on the SME core hire market.

Improving performance is our top priority. We expect to be able to provide an update when we issue our H1 FY2016 pre close statement which will be in the last week of September."

Enquiries:

Speedy Hire                                                                             Tel: 01942 720 000

Jan Åstrand, Executive Chairman

Russell Down, Chief Executive Officer

Instinctif Partners                                                                     Tel: 020 7457 2020

Mark Garraway

Helen Tarbet

Notes to Editors:

Founded in 1977, Speedy is the UK's leading provider of tools, equipment and plant hire services to a wide range of clients across the construction, infrastructure, industrial, manufacturing and facilities management sectors - as well as to local trade and industry.  The Group provides complementary support services through the provision of training, asset management and testing, repair, inspection and maintenance (TRIM).   Speedy is accredited nationally to ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001. The Group operates from 221 fixed sites across the UK and Ireland together with a number of on-site facilities at client locations throughout the UK, Ireland and from an international hub based in the Middle East.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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