Ashtead reports record half-year profits

Ashtead, a plant hire group has unexpectedly reported record first half pre-tax profits along with positive hopes of whole year figures tremendously ahead of previous predictions. Geoff Drabble, the firm's chief executive, said, "This is encouraging for both the short-term, where we expect a continuation of current trends, and the longer term where, when cyclical recovery comes, we expect to benefit significantly. With our robust debt structure, substantial capacity to fund fleet growth and the well-established momentum in the business, we now anticipate a full year profit substantially ahead of our earlier expectations."