Both Herc Rentals and United Rentals finished 2024 with year-over-year revenue increases.
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The latest earnings reports from the top-three construction equipment rental companies in the United States – United Rentals, Ashtead Group and Herc Rentals – show all are continuing to grow their revenue year-over-year.
Herc Rentals
Herc Rentals reported record fourth-quarter equipment rental revenue of $839 million, a 12% year-over-year increase. Equipment rental revenue for the company’s full year 2024 was up 11% to $3.2 billion, also a record.
Total revenue for the quarter was $951 million, up 14% compared to the company’s prior fourth quarter. Total revenue for the entire year rose 9% to $3.6 billion.
"While the higher-for-longer interest rate environment continues to pressure local market growth, we captured an outsized share of national account mega projects last year,” said Larry Silber, president and chief executive officer. “We also completed nine acquisitions, supporting market consolidation and positioning our company for long-term growth opportunities and greater efficiencies of scale. Strategic pricing, agile fleet management and enterprise-wide cost controls helped to sustain margins in this dynamic environment.”
Rental pricing was up 2.1% year-over-year in Herc Rentals’ fourth quarter and up 3.2% year-over-year for the full year.
For 2025, Herc Rentals is forecasting equipment rental revenue growth of 4% to 6% and growing market share with plans to capture “an outsize position of the forecasted higher construction spending in 2025.”
United Rentals
United Rentals brought in $4.1 billion in fourth-quarter 2024 revenue, up 9.8% from the company’s 2023 fourth quarter. Net income for the quarter increased 1.5% year-over-year to $689 million.
Rental revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% to $3.4 billion, while fleet productivity rose 4.3% year-over-year.
Fourth-quarter used equipment sales brought in $452 million, up 3.2% year-over-year.
Looking at the full year, United Rentals saw $13 billion in equipment rentals revenue, an 8% year-over-year increase. Total revenue for the year rose 7.1% to $15.4 billion.
The total net value of United Rentals’ rental equipment rose 6.6% year-over-year to $14.9 billion.
The company forecasts $15.6 billion to $16.1 billion in 2025 total revenue, which would represent an a 1% to 5% increase from $15.4 billion in 2024 total revenue.
Ashtead Group/Sunbelt Rentals
Ashtead Group, the parent company to Sunbelt Rentals, reported $2.84 billion in second-quarter 2024 revenue, up 2% year-over-year. Total revenue for the company’s first six months of its financial year was also up 2% to $5.7 billion.
Second-quarter rental revenue was up 5% to $2.73 billion, accounting for 92.7% of all revenue for the quarter. Rental revenue for the first six months was up 6% to $5.27 billion.
U.S. rental revenue was up 6% year-over-year in the first six months of the year to $3.57 billion, driven by volume and rate increases.
Operating profit for the quarter was almost unchanged at $796 million and was down 1% for the first six months at $1.48 billion.
“In North America, the strength of mega projects and hurricane response efforts have more than offset the lower activity levels in local commercial construction markets,” said Chief Executive, Brendan Horgan. “These local construction markets have been affected by the prolonged higher interest rate environment. However, underlying demand continues to be strong, and we expect this segment to recover as interest rates stabilize.”
Ashtead Group invested $1.7 billion in capital across its locations in the first six months of its financial year and added 47 new locations in North America.
The company expects rental revenue growth in the 3% to 5% range for its full 2024 fiscal year.
