HSS Hire sales slow ‘considerably’ as weak market conditions hit demand

Tool and equipment firm HSS said trading slowed considerably over the past 12 weeks as the company was knocked by weak market conditions.

HSS Hire Group shares dropped in early trading on Thursday as a result.

It came as the London-listed company revealed a dip in profits for the first half of 2023, while sales grew by 6.3%.

However, the group also told shareholders that “the weak macro environment has caused trading in the first 12 weeks of H2 to slow considerably to 2%.”

HSS said its services operation saw double-digit growth but its rental operation saw a “softness” in demand.

It said this was partly caused by seasonal weakness in the demand for certain products.

Bosses at the firm said they have responded quickly to this with action to reduce the group’s costs. These moves will bring around £6 million of benefits for the second half of 2023.

In the first half of the year, HSS recorded an adjusted pre-tax profit of £5.9 million, down from £8.4 million a year earlier.

Steve Ashmore, chief executive officer of the company, said: “We have made great strides delivering our strategy in the first half of 2023 as our marketplace proposition continues to develop for our customers and suppliers.

“The macro environment has become more challenging from July; we have experienced significant volatility of demand in our rental segment over the last few weeks which has widened the range of possible performance outcomes for the balance of the year.

“However, this will be temporary, and we therefore plan to leverage our robust balance sheet to sustain investment in the business, implementing our strategy to ensure that HSS can take full advantage of the market when it recovers.”