The Ashtead Group Board is recommending a final dividend of 33.5p per share (2019: 33.5p) making 40.65p for the year (2019: 40.0p). If approved at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting, the final dividend will be paid on 11 September 2020 to shareholders on the register on 14 August 2020.
Other financial highlights include:
Resilient performance during the COVID-19 pandemic
Revenue up 9%; rental revenue up 8%
Operating profit of £1,224m (2019: £1,213m)
Pre-tax profit3 of £1,061m; £1,091m excluding the impact of IFRS 16 (2019: £1,110m)
Earnings per share of 175.0p (2019: 174.2p)
£1.5bn of capital invested in the business (2019: £1.6bn)
Record free cash flow of £792m (2019: £368m)
£453m spent on bolt-on acquisitions (2019: £622m)
Net debt to EBITDA leverage of 1.9 times (2019: 1.8 times)
