Ashtead's A-Plant suffers in first half

Cost savings of £15m were not enough to compensate Ashtead's A-Plant business for a drop in turnover in the six months to 31 October 2003.

Turnover was down from £95.1m in the year-ago period to £83.5m, with operating profit falling in tandem from £9.7m to £5.6m. Capital expenditure increased slightly from £16.8m to £19.5m while £10.9m was generated in proceeds from the sale of used rental assets.

During the half non-core businesses, Big Air and Mast Climbing, were sold for £5m in total. The Irish business was sold last month for £12.1m, but no more non-core disposals are planned.

Overall the Ashtead group produced a reeduced turnover of £269.4m and lower pre-tax profit of £30.2m as improvements in the US business were negated by the weakness of the dollar.