Executive Summary
The market for the services of the plant hire industry is not very large,
estimated at £2bn. The largest users of the services of the plant hire
industry are the construction industry, mining and quarrying. The construction
industry accounts for over 65% of the turnover of the industry and construction
new works accounts for 86% of this. There has been no growth in turnover during
the last 3 years. The plant hire industry is fragmented: with a decline in the
number of firms in 1993.
The value of work done in plant hire during the third quarter of 1993 was put
at £327m, down from £340m for the same period of the previous year.
The supply of work from the mining industry decreased in line with the demise
of the coal industry. The decrease in turnover is reflected by the downward
trend in the UK market for machinery which stood at £6.69bn in 1989, but
£1.93bn in 1993.
The number of employees in the firms which supply operatives with hired plant
was 16,171 in the third quarter of 1992; for the same period of the following
year, the number had fallen to 14,382. Overall, if the firms which do not
supply operatives are taken into consideration, the number of employees
increased to 23,671 in the third quarter of 1992 and it falling to 21,382 in
the same quarter of 1993. There is also a large number of freelance operatives
in the industry but their number is unobtainable.
The plant hire industry is over dependent on the construction industry and as
mining decreases to nearly nil, this dependence will increase. There is a very
powerful case to be made for diversification into other industrial sectors.
There is a need for specialised consultancy services, and the increasing
versatility of the machines produced at present should help the plant hirers to
offer more services to the reviving manufacturing sector.
The prospects for the industry for the next 2 or 3 years are poor. Growth will
be static and it is likely that rates will fall. Profit margins will only
profit from internal reorganisation and will not come from an improving market.
It is to be feared that £2bn will be the ceiling for the turnover of the
industry up until 1996.
ISBN
1-85765385-8
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