This morning the hirer revealed it had struck a deal for £13m to buy two powered access firms: Prolift in south west and Platform Sales & Hire in the Midlands.

Russell Down, chief executive of Speedy, said: “These acquisitions strengthen our powered access offering and allow us to better serve our customers through the core fleet.”

Prolift operates from a head office in Taunton across the south west with a fleet of 770 access platforms and employing 72 people.

Last year revenue touched nearly £8m with EBITDA of £2.4m and gross assets of £12.1m.

Cash consideration paid amounted to £5.9m with net debt assumed of £5.5m, following a property sale for £1.2m by Prolift to a company connected with one of the vendors.

Midlands-based PSHL operates from centres in Milton Keynes and Birmingham, with a fleet of 850 access platforms and employing 64 people.

PSHL’s revenue topped £9.3m this year with EBITDA of £2.4m and gross assets of £9.8m. Cash consideration paid amounted to £7.1m with net debt assumed of £3.6m.

Speedy said it expects to realise both revenue and cost synergies from the acquisitions.