STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI), the world’s largest equipment rental company, today announced that its board of directors has approved an enhanced capital allocation strategy that remains focused on balancing growth and returns. Specifically, the company is lowering its targeted leverage range to 2.0x-3.0x, from 2.5x-3.5x. The company expects to end the year with a net leverage ratio of approximately 2.5x versus a reported net leverage ratio of 2.9x as of March 31, 2019.
Matthew Flannery, chief executive officer of United Rentals, said, "Over the last decade our capital allocation strategy has served our company and our investors well. This change is consistent with other actions we’ve taken to deploy our capital with a balanced approach to grow our business, enhance our cash flows and improve financial flexibility. The evolution of our business, and the resulting durable cash flow, provides us the further opportunity to both fully support our growth initiatives and reduce our financial leverage.”
Jessica Graziano, chief financial officer of United Rentals, said, "We remain focused on exercising strong capital stewardship to drive sustainable shareholder value. Today’s announcement reflects the culmination of an extensive six-month review of our capital allocation strategy. We expect this change in leverage to lower our beta and potentially unlock value for our shareholders without hindering our ability to continue to invest in growth.”
Additionally, the company reaffirms its 2019 financial guidance. The complete guidance is available under Investor Relations on unitedrentals.com. The company also remains committed to completing its current $1.25 billion share repurchase program.
The company looks forward to discussing these and other topics with investors at the Melius Research Industrials Conference, on June 4, 2019 and UBS Global Industrials and Transportation Conference, on June 6, 2019, both in New York City.
About United Rentals
United Rentals, Inc. is the largest equipment rental company in the world. The company has an integrated network of 1,165 rental locations in North America and 11 in Europe. In North America, the company operates in 49 states and every Canadian province. The company’s approximately 18,600 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and others. The company offers approximately 4,000 classes of equipment for rent with a total original cost of $14.09 billion. United Rentals is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the Barron’s 400 Index and the Russell 3000 Index® and is headquartered in Stamford, Conn. Additional information about United Rentals is available at unitedrentals.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, known as the PSLRA. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. These statements are based on current plans, estimates and projections, and, therefore, you should not place undue reliance on them. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. United Rentals undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections about the business and future financial results of the equipment rental industries, and other legal, regulatory and economic developments. We use words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “plans,” “expects,” “projects,” “future,” “intends,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” “opportunity,” “guidance,” “target,” “strategy” and similar expressions to identify these forward-looking statements that are intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of the PSLRA. Actual results could differ materially from the results contemplated by these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to: (1) a slowdown in North American construction and industrial activities, which could reduce our revenues and profitability, (2) challenges associated with past or future acquisitions, (3) our significant indebtedness, which requires us to use a substantial portion of our cash flow for debt service and can constrain our flexibility in responding to unanticipated or adverse business conditions, (4) fluctuations in the price of our common stock and inability to complete stock repurchases in the time frame and/or on the terms anticipated, and (5) other risks and uncertainties described in the “Risk Factors” section of United Rentals’ Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other documents filed from time to time with the SEC. United Rentals gives no assurance that it will achieve its expectations and does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements.
The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties that affect United Rentals described in the “Risk Factors” section of documents filed from time to time with the SEC. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based upon information available to United Rentals on the date hereof; and United Rentals assumes no obligations to update or revise any such forward-looking statements.
