In the year to 31st March 2024 revenue at Ardent Hire Solutions was down 7% from a record high of £75.1m in financial 2023 to £70.0m in 2024.
Pre-tax profit plummeted to £2.8m (2023: £8.2m).
The reversal was a result of a restructuring programme that was initiated in January 2024.
All year, Ardent has been effecting a pivot away from earthmoving and focusing on telehandlers.
Ardent was created in 2015 through the merger of telehandler specialist Fork Rent and general plant hirer One Call Hire under private equity ownership.
At the time of the merger, Ardent had around 5,000 machines, of which 2,510 were telehandlers, as well as 760 excavators, 440 rollers/ compactors and 560 site dumpers.
The current restructuring effectively returns it being just Fork Rent again
During the last financial year (to 31st March 2024) the company fleet size reduced by 14%, from 4,897 to 4,178 machines. The downsizing and refocusing process has continued since.
Ardent still has more than 2,400 telehandlers and started 2024 with 2,000 earthmoving machines and access platforms. As of last month, 1,400 of the latter had been sold out, and all 2,000 are expected to be gone by the end of December.
As well as selling equipment from sectors that Ardent is deprioritising, the process of continual renewal of the core fleet continues, changing out old platforms for new to keep the fleet profile young.
During the financial year Ardent invested £58m (2023: £47m) in new and replacement assets in addition to £7m on a new HGV delivery fleet.
This represents a 16% increase in capital expenditure, with manufacturer pricing stabilising in 2024 after significant increases in the previous two years.
It also sold £41m of used machines out of the fleet (2023: £25m). The number of machines sold was 1,400 in 2024 (compared to 830 in 2023), of which 835 were from the discontinued earthmoving and powered access parts of the business.
With the restructuring, average staff headcount in the year to March 2024 was reduced to 237, down from 271 the previous year, while the value of net assets slipped backed down to where it was seven years ago at £60m (2023: £83m).
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