Connaught demise deals blow to Speedy Hire
The demise of social housing maintenance firm Connaught has dealt a heavy blow to tool hire firm Speedy Hire, which today admitted it will take a £1.7m charge related to Connaught's collapse.
The news drove shares in Speedy Hire, whose clients also include manufacturing and rail companies, down by 0.75p to 22p this morning, a fall of 3.3%.
Speedy Hire was the exclusive provider of tool and equipment hire to Connaught, which collapsed into administration last month amid fears about the impact of public spending cuts on the group.
The charge covers a sum for debtors and write-offs, but does not include the impact of lost future revenues. Speedy Hire had assumed that it would make £1.7m of revenues from Connaught over the rest of this financial year and warned today that it didn't know how much, if any, business it would get from the group's new owners.
"Although now trading profitably, the group expects to report a first half operating loss," said Speedy Hire.