NEWS
8
IRN JUNE 2014
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■
Longer versionsof these stories, plushundredsof
others, canbe foundatwww.khl.com The sitehas
dedicated sector pages for Rental, Construction, Access,
CranesandDemolition. (See:
)
■
Flannery Plant Hire has placed
an order for 204 new Caterpillar
machines fromUKdealer Finning in a
deal worth £15million (€18.3million).
Flannery said it decided to increase
its fleet to bring it in line with new
emissions regulations, as contractors
sought environmentally friendly
equipment. Pat Flannery, director of
FlanneryPlantHire, said thecompany
had experienced significant demand
for environmentally friendly rental
equipment. Itnowhasa rental fleetof
over 1,600units.
■
Hertz Equipment Rental Corp
(HERC) has expanded its Saudi
Arabian operation, Hertz Dayim
Equipment Rental (HDER), with the
opening of a greenfield location in
the capital, Riyadh. HDER is a joint
venture between HERC and Dayim
Systems that opened in the country
three years ago, and already has
depots in Dammam and Jeddah. The
new Riyadh operation is located on
the Khurais highway, to the east of
the city, and featureda 7000m
2
yard,
shopandbranchoffice.
■
Finnishmanufacturer Avant Tecno
has launchedapilotequipment rental
project in the UK – Avant Hire, and
has plans to expand this business
into other countries soon. Avant
Hire offers discounted packages of
Avant machines to existing rental
companies, as well as marketing
support and business development
advice. The idea is that both parties
proactivelywork together togrow the
Avant Hire fleet, together with other
AvantHirepartners.
■
Speedy Hire chairman Ishbel
Macpherson will step down following
a tumultuous year for the group in
the Middle East. The announcement
came in Speedy’s end of financial
year results which saw a loss of
£4.3 million (€5.1 million) in its
International Division as a result
of the actions of a small number of
employees who have now left the
business. Ms Macpherson has been
with Speedy for seven years, the last
three of which were as chairman.
She will step down when the interim
resultsareannounced inNovember.
MANUFACTURERS
■
The 20 millionth engine produced
by Perkins, a 1206 two-stage turbo
Tier 4 diesel engine, has rolled off
the production line at the company’s
facility in Peterborough, UK, 81 years
after the brand was established.
Perkins said that at least 4.5 million
of the engines it had made were
still in service. It has the capacity to
manufacture 800,000 engines a year
from its facilities in the UK, US, Brazil
and China. Perkins became a wholly
owned subsidiaryof Caterpillar in 1998.
■
HM Plant, the UK dealer for Hitachi
Construction Machinery (Europe) -
HCME - has been renamed Hitachi
Construction Machinery (UK), with
effect fromMay 1, 2014. The company’s
new identity will also be introduced
across its network of 11 depots across
theUK. Hitachi ConstructionMachinery
(UK) will continue to supply the
complete rangeof Hitachi construction
equipment, including mini, medium,
largeandwheeledexcavators, wheeled
loadersanddump trucks.
■
Hyundai Cummins Engine Company
(HCEC), a joint venture between
construction equipment maker
Hyundai Heavy Industries and diesel
engine manufacturer Cummins, has
completed construction of a 78,045
m
2
engine factory for earthmovers
in Daegu, South Korea. The KRW100
billion (€71.5million).factorywill supply
Hyundaiwithengines for itsequipment
and is capable of producing 50,000
diesel engineseachyear.
■
Caterpillar reported revenues of
US$13.2billion (€9.6billion) for the first
quarter of 2014, a flat result compared
RENTAL ROUND-UP
MARKETS
■
First estimates from Eurostat show
that March’s seasonally-adjusted
production in the construction sector
fell 0.6% compared to February in
the Eurozone, and 0.5% the EU28. In
March 2014 comparedwithMarch 2013,
production in construction increased
5.2% in the Eurozone and 5.3% in
the EU28. The largest year-on-year
increases were registered in Slovenia
(44.9%), Hungary (34.1%), Spain (19.1%)
and Poland (18.4%), with the strongest
decreases seen in Portugal (13.8 %),
Sweden (2.8%) and Italy (1.4%).
■
The PCA – formerly the Portland
Cement Association – forecasts US
cement consumption will increase
7.9% this year. This is almost double
last year’s 4.5% growth rate, and the
association expects similar steady
increases in demand for the next
five years. PCA chief economist and
group vice president Edward Sullivan
said, “There is considerable evidence
that the economy’s growth path has
softened during the past several
months, but we believe that the
underlyingeconomic fundamentalsare
stronger than thedata suggest.”
■
The value of construction put in
place stood at US$943 billion (€688
billion) in the US for the 12 months to
the end of March. This was an 8.4%
increase on the same point last year,
according to data from the Census
Bureau. Most of the gains came from
the residential construction sector,
which was up 15.2% to the end of
March. Privateconstructionoutputwas
up 12.5%compared toayearago,while
publicly funded constructionwasdown
0.8%compared toayear ago.
to2013. Netprofit for theperiodwasup
5% year-on-year to $922 million (€673
million).The modest overall figures
masked a jump in revenues from the
company’s construction industries
division, where sales were up 20%
to $5.06 billion (€3.7 billion), fuelled
by a 36% increase in North American
sales to US$2.09 billion (€1.52 billion).
The construction industries result was
tempered by another fall from the
resource industriesbusiness.
News from khl.com
INTERNATIONAL
rental
Official magazine of the ERA
A KHL Group Publication
Volume 14 Issue 4 June 2014
NEWS
INSIDE: RENTAL TRACKER, APPLETON COLUMN
INSIDEGUIDES
IREShowGuide p21
ERAConvention p33
Ranking theWorld’s top 100 rental companies
p38
IRN062014FrontCover.indd 1
02/06/2014 09:19:28
