Storent to continue fleet investment

Latvia-based rental company Storent Holding has said it intends to continue its investment in fleet and IT systems as it aims to make the most of “favorable” market conditions.

During the first half of 2024 the company invested €15.5 million in the replacement and expansion of its fleet, with that number now expected to reach around €25 million in the coming months.

It added that it has invested €4.7 million on a number of cloud-based systems across all five of the countries in which it operates.

To enable further benefits and efficiency from the systems it said it will invest a further €1 million in the systems. 

At the same time, the company has reported EBITDA of €4.4 million (down 23%) and revenues of €20 million for the first six months of 2024, an 8% decrease from the same period last year.

Storent said that this was due to “increasing personnel costs, depreciation and significantly higher interest payments.”

However, the company predicts a stronger end to the year and is forecasting to make a profit by the end of 2024 thanks to a high season in rental and its new fleet entering circulation. 

It added that given that the equipment rental sector in its largest market, Latvia, is predicted to see 11% growth for rental in 2025, further opportunities for growth are available. 

The company, which has operations across the Baltic region as well as Finland and Sweden, is also involved in the Rail Baltica, a railway infrastructure project across the Baltic states of Latvia, Lituania and Estonia.

Andris Pavlovs, chairman of the management board of Storent Holding said, “The Group management plans further development of subsidiaries in five countries as a part of Storent Holding group.

“In the second half of 2024, Storent will continue to focus on an improvement of sales process efficiency, additions to and renewal of rental fleet as well as develop online sales and digitalisation. The Group will continue to transform its IT strategy to comply with the scalability needs