Ashtead set for Hurricanes and tax cuts boost

By Proactive Investors / March 05, 2018 / www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk / Article Link

Equipment rental company Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT) has been benefiting from Donald Trump's tax cuts and an increase in demand after hurricanes in the US.

Ashtead, which reports its third quarter results on Tuesday, has been involved in the rebuilding efforts after hurricane Harvey, Irma and Maria struck southern US and the Caribbean.

The need for emergency equipment boosted revenues in the first half, prompting the company to raise its full year expectations in December and launch a share buyback programme of between ?500mln and ?1bn over the next 18 months.

"Whilst we would anticipate that activity levels would normalise during the second half, post hurricane clean-up, we expect full year results to be ahead of our prior expectations," chief executive Geoff Drabble said at the time.

UBS said: "After a strong H1, helped by hurricane recovery work, we expect a good Q3: we forecast Sunbelt yields +0% (Q2 +1% benefited from some one-off hurricane boost, but the underlying trend is still improving vs. Q1 -2%), and see volume growth of 17-18% (c5% M&A contribution, in-line with Q2)."

Just Eat also to prove tasty

It should also be another stellar showing from Just Eat in 2017 with the food delivery platform having enjoyed strong growth for many years since it floated in 2014.

In December Just Eat moved up to the FTSE 100 index following a third quarter update which showed revenues up 47% while full year profit guidance was raised to ?515mln- ?530mln from ?500mln- ?515m previously.

Investors will be keen to see if the UK business remains strong with the finals on Tuesday, but will also be looking at the group's overseas operations.

Any hints of possible dividend payments will also be of great interest.

Tuesday March 6:

Trading updates: Ashtead Group PLC (Q3) (LON:AHT), McCarthy & Stone PLC (LON:MCS)

Finals: Just Eat PLC (LON:JE.), Intertek Group PLC (LON:ITRK), Aggreko PLC (LON:AGGK), Bodycote PLC (LON:BOY), Cairn Homes PLC (LON:CRN), Escher Group Holdings PLC (LON:ESCH), Headland Group PLC (LON:HEAD), Huntsworth PLC (LON:HWG), Harworth Group PLC (LON:HEG), Ibstock Plc (LON:IBST), IWG PLC (LON:IWG), LoopUp Group PLC (LON:LOOP), LSL Property Services PLC (LON:LSL), MPAC Group PLC (LON:MPAC), Rotork PLC (LON:ROR), SDL Plc (LON:SDL), Silence Therapeutics PLC (LON:SLN), Yu Group PLC (LON:YU)

Interims: CAP-XX Limited (LON:CAPX), Craneware PLC (LON:CRW), Purecircle Limited (LON:PURE)

Economic data: US factory orders

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