Rushlift reports strong performance

In the year to 31 August 2012, SHG posted record high levels of turnover and earnings. Group sales rose by 23 per cent to £28.8m while pre-tax profits soared by 124 per cent to £1.8m.

Rushlift has grown into the largest independent materials handling supplier in the UK, with a number of prestigious key accounts such as British Airways, Tata Steel and Saint-Gobain.

Recent moves have seen Rushlift expand the portfolio of equipment it supplies and maintains, to include airport ground support equipment and lorry loader cranes.

Managing director of Rushlift, Graham Farquhar cited the hard work of employees, as well as the continued investment in new technology and infrastructure, as key factors in the company’s growth.

"All our teams deserve congratulations for the hard effort they’ve put in to make these results possible. We’re delighted with the performance across the country and, with a number of exciting new developments in the pipeline, our future prospects are very encouraging,” he said.

We have invested heavily in our IT infrastructure, most notably the successful roll out of hand held technology to our engineers, feeding real time information in to our Fleet Management System which is immediately available for our customers to view.”

In addition to new contract signings, high contract renewal levels have also significantly enhanced group earnings while the heavy forklift subsidiary Sleabond also reported an increase of 8.3 per cent increase in pre-tax earnings.

"Our existing contracts have been supplemented by significant new deals and more businesses are finding out about our customer-centred approach, focusing on what the customer does and how they do it, rather than supplying a particular brand of machine,” added Farquhar.

"We believe that our independent approach aligns us closely with our customers’ requirements. In times of uncertainty, that approach has really helped us to continue our growth trajectory.”

The group's mobile crane division was also said to have traded robustly with a 90 per cent increase in pre-tax earnings, a particularly encouraging result given the difficult prevailing market conditions in the construction sector.