United Rentals Releases Preliminary Q4 and Full Year Earnings

March 13, 2006 — United Rentals, Inc., Greenwich, Conn., recently announced that it expects diluted earnings per share of $0.48 for the fourth quarter of 2005 and $1.81 for the full year 2005. Free cash flow for the year was $133 million after total capital expenditures of $839 million. Also announcing its full year 2006 outlook for diluted earnings per share of $2.13 to $2.23, the company expects to generate $4.0 billion in total revenues in 2006 and approximately $175 million of free cash flow after total capital expenditures of approximately $900 million.

 

Preliminary fourth quarter and full year highlights include:

• Total revenues increased 17.1% for the fourth quarter and 15.2% for the full year 2005 to a record $3.56 billion.
• Same-store rental revenues increased 13.0% for the fourth quarter and 11.8% for the full year.
• Rental rates increased 5.2% for the fourth quarter and 6.0% for the full year.
• Contractor supplies sales increased 41.7% for the fourth quarter and 44.2% for the full year to $324 million.
• Dollar utilization for the full year was a record 64.9%, an increase of 5.1 percentage points from 2004.