Birse Plant Hire (BPH), the equipment rental division of UK buiding and civil engineering contractor Birse, has reported a decline in revenue but an increase in profits from its crawler crane rental operations in the six months to 31 October 2002.
Turnover generated by BPH’s fleet of more than 50 crawler cranes was £1.65m ($2.5m) for the half-year, compared with £1.78m for the six months to 31 October 2001.
Operating profit was up more than 12%, however, from £501,000 last time to £563,000 ($844,000).
BPH is also continuing to upgrade and modernise its fleet, selling four old mechanical machines in mid 2002 and buying three new hydraulic ones. “The only mechanical cranes that we intend to keep in the fleet are the heavier machines which perform more efficiently than their hydraulic counterparts and, therefore, represent a more profitable proposition for customers,’ the company said.
This represents a slight adjustment in the company’s previously stated position. Twelve months ago the company said: ” It is a medium term objective to build up a fleet comprising exclusively of hydraulic machines.”
