ASHTEAD GROUP (AHT) – Business Services
| Price: £48.12 +0.1% | P/E: 18.1x |
| Market Cap: £20.1bn | Yield: 1.8% |
Plant and equipment hire firm Ashtead posted pretty unspectacular results for the six months to 31 October showing flat sales and falling profits.
Revenue was up just 1% at $2.96 billion while operating profit was down 12% at $704 million and headline EPS fell 10% to 100.4c/share.
Nonetheless, the firm bought back close to $1 billion worth of shares and is planning a further $1.5 billion buyback starting in March 2026.
Our view
Gone are the days, it seems, when Ashtead could be relied upon to deliver double-digit top and bottom-line growth – the kind of performance which made it one of the best-performing UK stocks and a must-hold for investors for more than a decade.
The buyback is eye-catching, but from the sound of it will only start when the primary listing moves to New York which will leave London a backwater in terms of share trading.
For the live webcast at 10.30am and press release click here: http://www.ashtead-group.com/
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