Greenwich, CT -
United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) today announced that it has completed the sale of its traffic control business to HTS Acquisition, Inc., an entity newly-formed by affiliates of private equity investors Wynnchurch Capital Partners and Oak Hill Special Opportunities Fund, L.P. The agreement to sell the business was announced in December 2006.
In connection with the transaction, HTS Acquisition paid United Rentals an adjusted purchase price of $68 million in cash, reflecting the $85 million purchase price, reduced by the payoff at closing of certain indebtedness of the traffic control business and working capital and other adjustments.
United Rentals expects to recognize a fourth quarter 2006 loss on the sale of approximately $0.21 per diluted share. This loss on sale, as well as prior period and full year 2006 results for the traffic control business, will be reflected as discontinued operations when the company reports its fourth quarter and full year 2006 results. The divestiture is not expected to have a material impact on 2007 results.
United Rentals' traffic control business represented one of the company's three financial reporting segments, accounting for 8% of total revenues in 2005. The company's fourth quarter and full year 2006 results will be released after the market close on Monday, February 26, 2007. The company will hold its fourth quarter and full year conference call with Wayland Hicks, chief executive officer, Martin Welch, chief financial officer, and Michael Kneeland, executive vice president-operations, on Tuesday, February 27, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The conference call is available by audio webcast at unitedrentals.com
About United Rentals
United Rentals, Inc. is the largest equipment rental company in the world, with an integrated network of nearly 700 rental locations in 48 states, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The company's 12,000 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and others. The company offers for rent over 20,000 classes of rental equipment with a total original cost of $3.9 billion. United Rentals is a member of the Standard & Poor's MidCap 400 Index and the Russell 2000 Index® and is headquartered in Greenwich, Conn. Additional information about United Rentals is available at www.unitedrentals.com.
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can generally be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "plans," "intends," "projects," "forecasts," "may," "will," "should," "on track" or "anticipates," or the negative thereof or comparable terminology, or by discussions of vision, strategy or outlook. Our businesses and operations are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and, consequently, actual results may differ materially from those projected by any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those projected include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) weaker or unfavorable economic or industry conditions can reduce demand and prices for our products and services, (2) non-residential construction spending, or governmental funding for infrastructure and other construction projects, may not reach expected levels, (3) we may not have access to capital that our businesses or growth plans may require, (4) any companies we acquire could have undiscovered liabilities, may strain our management capabilities or may be difficult to integrate, (5) rates we can charge may increase less than anticipated, or costs we incur may increase more than anticipated, (6) we have significant leverage, 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, (7) we have not yet confirmed remediation of a previously identified material weakness in our internal controls relating to our financial close process, (8) we are subject to an ongoing inquiry by the SEC, and there can be no assurance as to its outcome, or any other potential consequences thereof for us, and (9) we may incur additional significant costs and expenses in connection with the SEC inquiry, our related internal reviews, the class action lawsuits and derivative actions that were filed in light of the SEC inquiry, the U.S. Attorney's office request for information, or other litigation, regulatory or investigatory matters, related to the SEC inquiry or otherwise. For a fuller description of these and other possible uncertainties, please refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, as well as to our subsequent filings with the SEC. Our forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date hereof, and we make no commitment to update or publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements in order to reflect new information or subsequent events, circumstances or changes in expectations.
Contact:
Chuck Wessendorf
VP, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
United Rentals, Inc.
(203) 618-7318
[email protected]
[email protected]