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Ashtead, a British company known for providing digs, wheels and lighting for construction sites, is planning to run a Hollywood business.
Brendan Horgan, head of the FTSE 100 team, plans to expand its Canadian passenger transport system to Los Angeles and the US, the world’s largest entertainment market, and the UK.
Ashtead, which sells under the Sunbelt Rentals and priced at $ 27bn, has Britain’s largest arms rental business and the second largest in the US.
It wants to expand its film lending arm, William F White International, in Canada, to take advantage of successful platforms such as Netflix, which have radically changed funding for filmmaking teams.
Ashtead has acquired William F White, a lender of special cameras, electronics and lighting equipment to the film and television industry, for 136 million pounds in 2019 as he seeks to diversify his construction.
In the wake of the epidemic, the increase in funding for new exhibitions in the production of works has contributed to the annual revenue of William F White.
The company, Canada’s largest television and television rental business, is set to earn C $ 200m in rent this year, up from C $ 120m (US $ 94m) at the time of the seizure.
“Netflix to Disney to CBS – they’re shooting to fill the craving for food. We have zero in on this business in the UK or the US,” Horgan said. “We are planning to go to the US and the UK.”
The UK filmmaking industry has grown in recent years, largely due to taxation, a premium that the top film companies are offering from $ 1.8bn in 2018-19 to £ 3.5bn in 2020-21, according to the British Film Institute.
Amazon Studios announced last month that it was stepping up its work Lord of the Rings several from New Zealand to the UK, while the second season of exciting games Good lucks will be filmed in Scotland only after a difficult international tour of the first artist.
This also shows an increase in global investment in content, which is expected to register another year of double digit and reach $ 250bn in 2021, figures for the Purely Streamonomics show.
Mr Horgan says if the sector takes the “US stock market”, it will make more than $ 250m. He also said that cross-cutting opportunities for other business ventures such as generators and industrial lighting may be necessary.
The comments came as Ashtead showed all of its revenue this year a week after the construction work came back strong and travel events came back abruptly from the Covid-19 closure. It expects growth of 13-16% compared to last year’s $ 5bn inflation, based on previous estimates of a 6-9% increase.
Design problems for equipment manufacturers such as Caterpillar and JCB also benefit from Ashtead as users go on loan when retailers, dealers and distributors are running out and the product raises prices for its equipment, adds Horgan.
Ashtead also supplies equipment to Covid-19 testing facilities as well as to disaster-prone areas, such as Hurricane Ida, where they provide electricity, wheels and pumps for cleaning in the event of a storm or disaster.