15
BYRNEEQUIPMENTRENTAL INTERVIEW
IRNMARCH 2015
“Our earlier rental distributor agreement with
Algeco Scotsman was discontinued as part of our
overall strategy for rental of portable buildings,
backed by Spacemaker's development of new
product lines that weremore alignedwithour focus
markets, especially in the oil andgas sector.”
Challenges
Meanwhile, Mr Fallon said that some of the biggest
challenges facing the rental industry in the Middle
East also came from its dominant economic sectors
– oil andgas.
He said that falling oil prices and general
uncertainty in the oil and gas sector posed a risk,
together with the slow pace of infrastructure and
civil construction projects for development coming
on stream – projects areannounced, but not coming
quickly enough.
Another challenge of operating in theMiddle East
was the issue of original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) distributor support, which Mr Fallon said
remained poor at best – albeit with some notable
exceptions.
“Many suppliers don’t stock product and parts to
support the product to the same degree as in other
markets,” he said.
In addition, he said the challenge of educating
end-usersof equipment as to thebenefitsof renting
as opposed to owning equipment was another
Byrne expects to further expand in 2015, opening in
new areas such as Kuwait and new regions of Saudi
Arabia, whereMr Fallon said the companywould be
“aggressively expanding”
ongoing process. “There is a preference or tradition
to own equipment, especially in themore emerging
markets,”Mr Fallonexplained. “Contractors carrying
their own fleet is also presents a challenge” he
added.
Nevertheless, Byrne seemswell-placed to ride out
these challenges, and is already well-establishded
in the market. It is clearly diversifying its rental
portfolio and spreading the risk throughout the
regionwithinmany different sectors.
As well as its its increasingly diversified rental
portfolio, the company has also highlighted an
ambition to target more new industries and
geographies in this fast-growing region.
These ambitions are clearly shared by the
company's new owner Hanco. When it acquired
Byrne last year, Hamad SAl Sulaiman, CEOof Hanco,
said, “The acquisition gives a strong impetus to
Hanco’s aspirations to be the leader in the MENA
[Middle East and North Africa] region’s asset rental
and leasemarket.”
Indeed, Mr Al Sulaiman outlined the combined
companies’ ambition to become the leader in the
Gulf CooperationCouncil region for rental and lease
ofmechanical assets, witha combinedasset baseof
close to 30000units.
“We hope to take Byrne into a new growth
trajectoryandbuildon itsexceptional track record,”
he said.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the next
moves in the company’s expansion strategy play
out, particularly at this very interesting time for
Middle Eastern countries which are also looking to
diversify their economiesaway fromdependenceon
oil andgas.
IRN
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