Our markets

Our markets continue to grow and evolve as we expand our footprint and the services we provide and contribute to and benefit from structural progression.  

Markets we service

Construction

• Airports 
• Highways and bridges 
• Office buildings 
• Data centres 
• Schools and universities 
• Shopping centres 
• Residential 
• Remodelling 
• Manufacturing plants 
• Green energy 

Maintenance, repair and operations  

• Office complexes 
• Apartment complexes 
• Data centres 
• Shopping centres 
• Golf course maintenance 
• Industrial  
• Entertainment and conference venues

Entertainment and special events 

• National events 
• Concerts 
• Sporting events 
• Film and television production 
• Theme parks 
• Festivals 
• Farmers’ markets 
• Local 5K runs 
• Cycle races

Emergency response and restoration  

• Fire 
• Hurricanes 
• Flooding 
• Tornadoes 
• Winter storms 
• Residential emergencies 
• Health emergencies 
• Alternative care facilities 
• Points of distribution 
• Healthcare testing facilities 

State and local government

• Government 
• Hospitals  
• Parks and recreation departments
• Schools and universities
• Pavement/kerb repairs

We continue to see a shift from ownership to rental, with rental increasingly essential for customer success where the larger, experienced rental companies are able to respond to a wide range of customer needs. As such, we are taking market share in what are larger and more diversified markets. Our markets are far less cyclical than in the past because construction, while still an important part of our business, is much less so, relative to the other markets we serve. That means that our markets are more resilient than ever before, making the Group more resilient too. Our growth used to be a factor of fleet size. The bigger our fleet size, the more revenue we could generate. Now, as we and the industry have matured into business service providers, pricing progression will become fundamental to our operations. We believe the market changes we have seen during Sunbelt 3.0 are now permanent. Together with our plan, these changes have created the foundations for our next chapter and the growth expected during our new strategic plan, Sunbelt 4.0. 

The breadth and resilience of our markets 

We serve increasingly broad and diverse end markets. Our markets continue to expand, in terms of geography, range of equipment provided and the applications for which our equipment is used. The graphic below shows the diversity of end markets that use our equipment. This is often the same equipment, just used for a different purpose. A significant proportion of our fleet was developed originally for the construction industry but is now used in applications varying from Formula 1 racetracks to home decor. Our customers are equally diverse from major global companies to DIYers. For any of these markets, there is a huge range of equipment used. 

Construction remains a core part of our end markets but accounts for less than 50% of total activity, and we see an increasing level of crossover between our General Tool and Specialty businesses on any typical construction site. Increasingly we are seeing bigger, longer construction projects, often over several years. We now refer internally to projects worth over $400m as mega projects and these are an important part of our project portfolio. Mega projects last typically for around three years and we expect to see more of these coming online in the future. 

Our non-construction markets are increasingly large and resilient and amongst other sectors include: 

• Maintenance, repair and operations is a highly stable end market characterised by recurring work needed, regardless of what may be happening in the wider economy.
• Our entertainment and special events market is a large and stable end market with long-term growth prospects.
• Emergency response and restoration is a key market for us and we are designated an essential service in the US, Canada and the UK in times of need, supporting government and the private sector in response to both day-to-day emergencies as well as major events, including hurricanes, tornadoes and other disasters. Natural disasters generate spikes in demand but day to day emergencies generate steady demand.
• State and local government is our most stable end market with expenditure typically determined in advance and sheltered from macroeconomic shifts.

Across these non-construction end-markets, there are ongoing opportunities for further rental penetration.