Major film productions such as The Snow Society or Exodus, the Rolling Stones concert in Madrid or the Mad Cool Festival, World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon, the latest Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Madrid, the Latin Grammys held in Seville in 2023, the Zendal hospital built in record time during the pandemic… Behind all of this there is a common denominator with a Spanish accent: LoxamHune.
This company is in charge of supplying machinery, of all kinds, for the development of a good number of large events, the execution of many of the infrastructures that exist today in Spain or the construction of industrial plants.
Its CEO has been Luis Ángel Salas for a decade, a period in which the company has managed to triple its size. Its origin is in Hune and in 2017 it was renamed LoxamHune after being acquired by the French company Loxam. The Spanish subsidiary, which carries out its activity in Spain and Portugal, employs more than 900 people and owns more than 20,000 machines, generated sales of 164 million euros in 2023 and in 2024 it exceeded 180 million. Organic growth reached between 5% and 6% and the rest – reaching 10%-11% – corresponds to the integration of the Portuguese firm HRE, purchased in 2023.
In an interview with ‘elEconomista.es’, Salas emphasizes that “the growth for several years has to do with the company’s operational approach and diversification.” “15 years ago it was focused on construction and civil works and today this area represents less than 55%; now we are leaders in energy generation rentals, in events or in security training,” he explains. “The majority of our growth has been organic. We have gone from 60 to 140 million without the three integrations that we have carried out and it has been due to the strategy, implemented in 2014, of improving the company’s efficiency, with a very digitalization system. important and with diversification from a commercial point of view”.
LoxamHune has also sustained its growth in the context of the machinery rental sector in Spain, “the country in the European Union that has the lowest degree of rental penetration in relation to its GDP (Gross Domestic Product), which is advancing and continues to get closer , but it still has great potential.” As an example, “15 years ago 60%-70% of the fleets of all companies were owned and today it is the other way around, 20% is owned and 70-80% is rented,” says Salas.
Despite the progress in machinery rental in Spain, “we are still very far from France, England or Nordic countries, where not only large machines but also small tools are rented; in Spain very few people rent a drill for their home, in the countries Nordic countries, 90% do it,” explains Salas, who has promoted this service in the Spanish market with growing demand. “In recent years we have created a small machinery rental development for the self-employed and individuals and it is growing by around 20% each year with turnover exceeding 6-7 million, and in recent months we have also launched the e-commerce line , which in principle will be for small machinery but we do not rule out expanding it to other lines of business,” he remarks.
Furthermore, LoxamHune promotes integrated services. “Before we only rented an earth-moving machine and now it is linked to whether someone needs a small machine, or training for their operators, or energy, etc.,” says the manager.
The Loxam Group, which has a turnover of 2.6 billion a year in 30 countries and employs 12,000 people, is the first European rental company and the fourth worldwide. Spain emerges as one of the group’s fastest growing markets, along with Italy, Portugal, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. LoxamHune represents around 6% of the parent company’s income, with a greater weight in the profit resulting from an ebitda (gross operating result) of 43%, compared to 30% for the group.
Looking ahead to 2025, Salas predicts that “we are going to continue with moderate growth, similar to that of 2024 or perhaps a little less, and with a slightly higher investment.” “For us it is very important to have the latest technology (their machines have an average age of less than seven years, compared to 17 in the sector in Spain), lower consumption and being more efficient; and we have some remodeling or some inaugurations (of facilities)”, abounds.
Regarding possible acquisitions, LoxamHune does not have any planned in the short term, although, he specifies, “we are constantly exploring the opportunities that exist and, given the good results, the low level of debt and the high efficiency, we are open.”
The machinery rental industry in Spain is made up of more than 600 companies, which directly employ more than 30,000 people and indirectly employ more than 100,000 and have a turnover of more than 7,000 million. Salas highlights that the sector invests around 1.5 billion annually in electrical machinery in order to reduce the carbon footprint. In this sense, he emphasizes that “no one subsidizes us anything.” “We are a little abandoned” by the Public Administrations, he laments.
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