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Herc Holdings Inc (HRI) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Navigating Growth Amid Market Challenges

In This Article:

  • Equipment Rental Revenue Growth: Approximately 5% increase in the quarter, excluding the Cinelease business.

  • Rental Revenue: Increased by 2.8% including Cinelease.

  • Adjusted EBITDA: Flat at $339 million.

  • Net Income: Adjusted net income was $37 million, excluding $74 million of H&E transaction costs.

  • Net Fleet CapEx Plan: Roughly 35% lower year-over-year at the midpoint of guidance.

  • Fleet Composition: Total fleet was $6.9 billion as of March 31, 2025, with specialty fleet representing about 24% of the total.

  • Free Cash Flow: Generated $49 million in the first quarter.

  • Leverage Ratio: Current leverage ratio is 2.5x.

  • ROIC: Trailing 12-month ROIC for the core business declined 110 basis points to 9.8%.

Release Date: April 22, 2025

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Positive Points

  • Herc Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRI) reported a 5% growth in equipment rental revenue for the quarter, excluding the Cinelease business.

  • The company successfully executed a merger agreement to acquire H&E Equipment Services, expanding its scale and geographic coverage.

  • Herc Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRI) is focusing on increasing specialty fleet CapEx to capture share of wallet opportunities and support mega projects.

  • The company maintains a strong commitment to safety, achieving a 96% perfect day rate across its operations.

  • Herc Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRI) has a diversified business model, reducing reliance on a single industry or customer, which enhances resilience to economic cycles.

Negative Points

  • The company faced challenges in the local market due to prolonged elevated interest rates, impacting local account growth.

  • Unusually cold weather in the southern states led to temporary branch closures, affecting daily and weekly local rentals.

  • Herc Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRI) recorded a net loss in the first quarter due to $74 million of H&E transaction costs.

  • The local market slowdown and inefficiencies associated with new acquisitions and greenfields impacted the company's ROIC.

  • The company is pausing other M&A initiatives to focus on integrating the H&E acquisition, which may limit growth opportunities in the short term.

Q & A Highlights

Q: Can you comment on the dollar utilization recovery in April and its implications for the full-year guidance? A: Mark Humphrey, CFO, stated that dollar utilization improved in March to levels comparable to the previous year, which has continued into April. This suggests a normalized cadence of dollar utilization throughout the quarters, supporting the full-year guidance.