No historical past of the tool-hire business could be whole with out a minimum of one entire bankruptcy dedicated to HSS. Based through Bert Taylor in 1957, the Rent Provider Corporate (later shortened to HSS) was once an undoubted pioneer of the United Kingdom lease business – it was once the unique high-street lease store.
After all, the place HSS led, others adopted and there was once a longer length of proliferation as others tapped into the fast-growing call for for tool-hire. Then through the years there adopted a gentle strategy of consolidation as a handful of main companies grew to dominate the marketplace.
By way of the flip of this century, 3 names ruled the United Kingdom marketplace for small plant & instrument lease: HSS, Rapid Rent and Ashtead Plant. Ashtead (A-Plant) obtained a US corporate, Sunbelt Leases, and grew so unexpectedly in the United States that during 2020 the United Kingdom operation, dwarfed through its personal subsidiary, rebranded as Sunbelt.
Each Rapid and HSS loved fairly other fortunes. Each continued long classes of loss-making within the first couple of a long time of the this century and in 2020 HSS introduced the closure of 134 of its 240 branches having misplaced cash in every of the 5 years since floating at the London Inventory Alternate in 2015.
The corporate may just not make the standard tool-hire type paintings and began to search for new tactics of serving the marketplace. In 2019 HSS introduced its OneCall rehire provider, a technology-led device designed to streamline customer support when hiring apparatus from the corporate’s community of providers.
Even supposing last 1/2 of its branches appeared like dangerous information, HSS put a favorable spin on it, announcing that the trade could be ‘leaner, extra agile and technology-driven’. Crucially, the corporate defined that round 30% of all new contracts had been now raised thru electronic channels, making bodily hire-shops much less vital.
The method proved a hit. Below the management of leader govt Steve Ashmore, who joined HSS in June 2017, the trade after all returned to learn, making £6.1m ahead of tax in 2021 on earnings up 21% to £303.3m.
Working on a custom-built know-how platform dubbed “Brenda”, the OneCall on-line provider developed unexpectedly and in 2024 HSS introduced a fully-digital provider referred to as ProService Market. Heralded as the United Kingdom’s greatest on-line construction products and services supplier, ProService Market promised consumers rapid get admission to to greater than 900 providers and 50,000 product strains.
Then, in October 2025, HSS made a ground-breaking announcement: all 39 HSS branches and 65 shops inside of developers service provider shops making up the HSS Rent community had been being transferred to a non-public fairness investor, Unending LLP, a London company whose portfolio levels from Crown Paints to the West Cornwall Pasty Corporate.
Unending is being paid £26m to take over the HSS lease community – now The Rent Provider Corporate, THSC – and the stock, which means that HSS, in impact, ceases to be a traditional tool-hire operation. Divested of its bodily premises and its fleet of equipment and gear, HSS is now (topic to shareholder approval) being renamed HSS ProService Construction Products and services Market % (ProService for brief) – turning into merely a facilitator of tool-hire.
“We take a seat between the client and the provider – we don’t personal any belongings,” says ProService Market leader govt Tom Shorten. Shorten has been working the HSS on-line operation since its inception in 2017. Ashmore, after overseeing the transformation of the trade, is stepping down as CEO to change into govt chairman of ProService.
Concurrently moving the branches and stock to Unending, ProService is embarking on a brand new partnership with its erstwhile competitor, Rapid Rent.
Below a newly-signed five-year business provide settlement, Rapid Rent will substitute HSS’s personal lease trade because the stock provider for HSS (now ProService) on-line consumers. Rapid may be paying £35m for HSS belongings, together with some apparatus and depot rentals, and is taking a 9.99% stake in ProService.
The method of marrying the 2 companies right into a workable partnership has entailed a vital redeployment of human assets: round 100 workers have already transferred from Rapid to ProService and 300 have moved from HSS Rent Provider to Rapid.
Rapid Rent will change into the major apparatus supplier to ProService for an preliminary 5 years with a unilateral choice for Rapid to increase for an extra 3 years. That is anticipated to be value round £50m to £55m of earnings according to yr for Rapid.
ProService may even act as fulfilment supplier for Rapid consumers.
In step with Shorten, despite the fact that the 2 former competitors didn’t paintings in combination in any authentic capability ahead of this newest construction ProService have been buying and selling with Rapid Rent on a restricted foundation for a while. Below the brand new association, Rapid will now be a big spouse:
“Rapid is an excessively great addition to our platform,” says Shorten. “They are going to account for between 20% and 23% of our quantity. However we now have different companions too – together with corporations like Sunbelt and Vice president in addition to many smaller regional lease companies.
“There are 3 very important portions to the settlement: first, Rapid is a most well-liked provider for ProService consumers; 2d, we change into the provider for rehire to Rapid; and, 3rd, Rapid takes a ten% possession of the trade. For sure merchandise, equivalent to small equipment, get admission to and so forth, Rapid may even have the suitable of first refusal,” explains Shorten.
Whilst ProService will nonetheless center of attention on small plant and equipment, it’s been broadening its providing to hide complementary services and products, particularly construction fabrics and gas.
In 2023, HSS struck a care for service provider chain Selco, putting in lease issues inside of Selco branches whilst Selco, in flip, expanded its personal choices at those places. The association was once lengthen in 2024 and now the ProService website online guarantees to provide “core fabrics or hard-to-find pieces … to make it simple to get what you wish to have on time, on funds, and with out trouble.”
In a similar way ProService provides consumers “the best way” to shop for bulk gas, fuel and lubricants both through telephone, e mail or on-line.
ProService has additionally retained the educational arm, HSS Coaching Ltd, introduced in 2002 and now a outstanding development coaching supplier, providing lessons from work-at-height to groundcare.
“We’re far more than simply lease in this day and age,” says Shorten.
Noticed from one attitude, it would glance as though HSS has thrown within the towel – conceded defeat and accredited that it might not hack it as a standard tool-hire trade. However a ways from taking flight from the marketplace, Shorten says that HSS has as an alternative been creating a radically new interpretation of what it method to be a development provider supplier: one who leverages the facility of electronic conversation.
Other folks frequently commentary – and frequently unfairly – on how gradual the development business is to embody new applied sciences. However Shorten is keen to just accept that that is true in his sector of the business.
“Generation has not up to 5% penetration within the lease business, which is very low. The typical is set 15% and within the clothes business it’s someplace between 40% and 50% penetration,” he says.
“Our sector has lagged at the back of for years. However that’s converting, and we’re very a lot at the leading edge.
“What we’re aiming to do is be offering one of these provider that individuals are actually used to getting from the likes of Amazon. This present day, what passes for ‘subsequent day supply’ within the lease sector comes with a caveat: ‘to be showed’ or ‘name us for main points’. The issue has at all times been that the entrance finish simply doesn’t talk to the again finish.”
Shorten sincerely believes that the face of tool-hire continues to be converting, and he’s decided to stay at the vanguard. He notes that different lease corporations are most effective now starting to cope with one of these know-how HSS has already embraced (GAP Rent, as an example, has simply appointed a brand new leader know-how officer).
One of the most greater lease companies have began to broaden specialized companies to focus on call for extra successfully. Instrument-hire as we realize it is converting – even all the way down to the goods on be offering: “We’re already seeing that on the very small finish – like the facility equipment – consumers are actually purchasing as opposed to hiring,” says Shorten.
Even supposing the theory of HSS not working lease stores or proudly owning any plant or equipment could also be difficult to grab, Shorten is adamant that his Amazon-style lease type is the best way ahead. Rapid is now on board and a number of other different primary hirers now spouse with ProService, together with the likes of Sunbelt and VP with their greater plant and specialist apparatus.
However Shorten says that HSS ProService Market isn’t only a to hand conduit for uniting the large lease companies successfully with a broader buyer base. It additionally provides small impartial companies with a way of providing a miles greater vary of kit and products and services.
“Now we have numerous native marketplace knowledge and will spouse with a lease companies situated anyplace,” says Shorten. “We will be able to create the chance for brand spanking new impartial hirers to pop up.”
SPEEDY LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
HSS ProService has for a while contributed the lion’s proportion of HSS Crew turnover. Its newest accounts display turnover of £290m in 2023 out of overall crew earnings of £349m and a pre-tax benefit of £5.2m.
Rapid Rent, in the meantime, has been making losses. Its most up-to-date effects, for the half-year to September 2025, display a pre-tax lack of £15.1m on turnover of £205.2m. All over the similar length in 2024, Rapid made a pre-tax lack of £2.2m on an identical quantity of earnings.
Saying the most recent leads to November, Rapid leader govt Dan Evans (pictured above) stated he expects the tie-up with HSS ProService to assist turn out to be Rapid’s fortunes:
“This business settlement is now are living and anticipated to generate £50-55m of annualised earnings and demanding profits accretion in its first complete yr after integration,” stated Evans.
“In spite of subdued markets, we’re gaining marketplace proportion and successful important long-term contracts, leaving us a ways higher located to take benefit as and when marketplace prerequisites enhance. On account of our strategic development, fresh contract wins and the economic settlement with ProService, we predict to offset the continued subdued marketplace prerequisites…. We look ahead to FY2027 with self belief.”
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