Ashtead lifts full-year expectations after profit surge

LONDON, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 10 (Reuters) - British industrial equipment hire company Ashtead raised its full-year earnings guidance for the second time after posting a 33 percent rise in first-half profit on Wednesday.

The company, which rents everything from small tools to large diggers and water pumps, said strong demand at its core U.S. arm and in Britain had helped pretax profit jump to 265.5 million pounds ($416 million) in the six months to Oct. 31.

The firm said it now anticipated full-year results ahead of its previous expectations, without giving figures. Prior to the announcement Ashtead was on average expected to post a full-year pretax profit of 452 million pounds, according to Reuters data.

Ashtead also hiked its interim dividend 33 percent to 3.0p per share. ($1 = 0.6375 pounds) (Reporting by Neil Maidment; editing by Kate Holton)