Speedy Hire warns on worsening market conditions despite strategic progress

(Sharecast News) - Tools and equipment hire company Speedy Hire said on Thursday that it had delivered "significant strategic progress" in FY26, highlighted by its "transformational" partnership with Proservice and continued momentum across its core operations, but also cautioned that trading conditions had deteriorated further in the final quarter amid budget uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and customerdriven delays.

Speedy Hire stated the integration with Proservice was "continuing to progress as planned" and that the agreement remained on track to generate �50m-55m of revenue and be "significantly earnings accretive" in its first full year of trading.

However, Speedy stated that although it had anticipated a continuation of "subdued market conditions" for the remainder of FY26, market conditions had actually worsened through the fourth quarter - with both uncertainty around the UK Budget in November and recent geopolitical events in the Middle East. Speedy noted that it had also seen "certain customer led delays".

As a result, the London-listed group now expects FY26 underlying earnings to be roughly �90m - down from �97.1m in FY25.

Net debt at 31 March was expected to be roughly �159m, including the �35m invested in ProService, with the group expecting to see "meaningful deleverage" in FY27 as a result of strong operating cash flow.

"Notwithstanding our caution around ongoing economic and geopolitical events, the Board remains confident of its outlook for FY27 and beyond," said Speedy.

As of 0855 BST, Speedy shares had slumped 11.55% 19.46p..

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com