Friday Roundup: Herc’s biggest buy | United in Scotland | Sinoboom ‘Europe for Europe’

The trail of acquisitions continued for the rental industry over the past week, July 18-24, 2024, as OEMs reported news highlighting recent challenges. Let’s take a look at the week that was...

Herc Rentals made its largest buy ever with its acquisition of Otay Mesa Sales, a western-US, four-branch independent rental firm. 

Herc Rentals was the top newsmaker this week, as it released it’s second-quarter and first-half reports for the year. During its earnings call with investors, the #3 company on the IRN100 ranking mentioned its largest buy ever with its acquisition of Otay Mesa Sales, a western-US, four-branch independent rental firm. 

For its part, United Rentals officially opened a depot in Scotland. It is the company’s fourth in the UK.

Based in Bathgate, West Lothian, the location specializes in the rental of fluid and power solutions, including tanks, pumps, filtration, fluid support equipment and generators.

European rental firm Boels Rental has acquired Netherlands-based specialist Chemelot Safety Shop. Headquartered in Sittard-Geleen in the south of the country, Chemelot is being sold by its owner Sitech. The company mainly focuses on the rental, sale and maintenance of gas detection, breathing air solutions and protective clothing.

Boels said that with the acquisition of Chemelot, which joins Boels Industrial, the specialist rental business of Boels Rental for the industrial and petrochemical sector, the company will become a “specialist in the field of industrial safety equipment.”

In OEM news, Sinoboom is set to assemble MEWPs for the European market at the company’s production plant in Poland, in response to tariffs imposed on Chinese-produced equipment entering the EU.

Sinoboom will assemble MEWPs for the European market at the company’s production plant in Poland, in response to tariffs imposed on Chinese-produced equipment entering the EU.

The group, with its headquarters based in Changsha, China, is adopting a ‘Europe for Europe’ approach, which will see it introducing full assembly of its scissor and boom lifts, destined for the EU market, at its Poznan-based facility.

Meanwhile, sales in the second quarter of the year for Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) declined from last year in all the regions in which it operates.

The company said the dip was driven by a downturn in the industry after last year’s surprisingly robust machine sales figures.