HSS unveils the changing face of hire
Written by admin on February 7, 2026
No history of the tool-hire industry would be complete without at least one whole chapter devoted to HSS. Founded by Bert Taylor in 1957, the Hire Service Company (later shortened to HSS) was an undoubted pioneer of the UK hire industry – it was the original high-street hire shop.
Of course, where HSS led, others followed and there was an extended period of proliferation as others tapped into the fast-growing demand for tool-hire. Then over time there followed a gradual process of consolidation as a handful of leading businesses grew to dominate the market.
By the turn of this century, three names dominated the UK market for small plant & tool hire: HSS, Speedy Hire and Ashtead Plant. Ashtead (A-Plant) acquired a US company, Sunbelt Rentals, and grew so rapidly in the US that in 2020 the UK operation, dwarfed by its own subsidiary, rebranded as Sunbelt.
Both Speedy and HSS enjoyed rather different fortunes. Both endured lengthy periods of loss-making in the first couple of decades of the this century and in 2020 HSS announced the closure of 134 of its 240 branches having lost money in each of the five years since floating on the London Stock Exchange in 2015.
The company could no longer make the traditional tool-hire model work and started to look for new ways of serving the market. In 2019 HSS launched its OneCall rehire service, a technology-led system designed to streamline customer service when hiring equipment from the company’s network of suppliers.
Although closing half of its branches looked like bad news, HSS put a positive spin on it, saying that the business would be ‘leaner, more agile and technology-driven’. Crucially, the company explained that around 30% of all new contracts were now raised through digital channels, making physical hire-shops less important.
The strategy proved successful. Under the leadership of chief executive Steve Ashmore, who joined HSS in June 2017, the business finally returned to profit, making £6.1m before tax in 2021 on revenue up 21% to £303.3m.
Operating on a custom-built technology platform dubbed “Brenda”, the OneCall online service evolved rapidly and in 2024 HSS launched a fully-digital service called ProService Marketplace. Heralded as the UK’s largest online building services provider, ProService Marketplace promised customers instant access to more than 900 suppliers and 50,000 product lines.
Then, in October 2025, HSS made a ground-breaking announcement: all 39 HSS branches and 65 outlets within builders merchant stores making up the HSS Hire network were being transferred to a private equity investor, Endless LLP, a London firm whose portfolio ranges from Crown Paints to the West Cornwall Pasty Company.
Endless is being paid £26m to take over the HSS hire network – now The Hire Service Company, THSC – and the inventory, meaning that HSS, in effect, ceases to be a conventional tool-hire operation. Divested of its physical premises and its fleet of tools and equipment, HSS is now (subject to shareholder approval) being renamed HSS ProService Building Services Marketplace plc (ProService for short) – becoming simply a facilitator of tool-hire.
“We sit between the customer and the supplier – we don’t own any assets,” says ProService Marketplace chief executive Tom Shorten. Shorten has been running the HSS online operation since its inception in 2017. Ashmore, after overseeing the transformation of the business, is stepping down as CEO to become executive chairman of ProService.
At the same time as transferring the branches and inventory to Endless, ProService is embarking on a new partnership with its erstwhile competitor, Speedy Hire.
Under a newly-signed five-year commercial supply agreement, Speedy Hire will replace HSS’s own hire business as the inventory supplier for HSS (now ProService) online customers. Speedy is also paying £35m for HSS assets, including some equipment and depot leases, and is taking a 9.99% stake in ProService.
The process of marrying the two businesses into a workable partnership has entailed a significant redeployment of human resources: around 100 employees have already transferred from Speedy to ProService and 300 have moved from HSS Hire Service to Speedy.
Speedy Hire will become the principal equipment provider to ProService for an initial five years with a unilateral option for Speedy to extend for a further three years. This is expected to be worth around £50m to £55m of revenue per year for Speedy.
ProService will also act as fulfilment provider for Speedy customers.
According to Shorten, although the two former rivals did not work together in any official capacity before this latest development ProService had been trading with Speedy Hire on a limited basis for some time. Under the new arrangement, Speedy will now be a major partner:
“Speedy is a very welcome addition to our platform,” says Shorten. “They will account for between 20% and 23% of our volume. But we have other partners too – including companies like Sunbelt and Vp as well as many smaller regional hire firms.
“There are three essential parts to the agreement: first, Speedy is a preferred supplier for ProService customers; second, we become the supplier for rehire to Speedy; and, third, Speedy takes a 10% ownership of the business. For certain products, such as small tools, access and so on, Speedy will also have the right of first refusal,” explains Shorten.
While ProService will still focus on small plant and tools, it has been broadening its offering to cover complementary products and services, notably building materials and fuel.
In 2023, HSS struck a deal with merchant chain Selco, setting up hire points within Selco branches while Selco, in turn, expanded its own offerings at these locations. The arrangement was extend in 2024 and now the ProService website promises to supply “core materials or hard-to-find items … to make it easy to get what you need on time, on budget, and without hassle.”
Similarly ProService offers customers “the easiest way” to buy bulk fuel, gas and lubricants either by phone, email or online.
ProService has also retained the training arm, HSS Training Ltd, launched in 2002 and now a prominent construction training provider, offering courses from work-at-height to groundcare.
“We’re way more than just hire these days,” says Shorten.
Seen from one angle, it might look as if HSS has thrown in the towel – conceded defeat and accepted that it could no longer hack it as a traditional tool-hire business. But far from retreating from the market, Shorten says that HSS has instead been developing a radically new interpretation of what it means to be a construction service provider: one that leverages the power of digital communication.
People often remark – and often unfairly – on how slow the construction industry is to embrace new technologies. But Shorten is willing to accept that this is true in his sector of the industry.
“Technology has less than 5% penetration in the hire industry, which is extraordinarily low. The average is about 15% and in the clothing industry it’s somewhere between 40% and 50% penetration,” he says.
“Our sector has lagged behind for years. But that’s changing, and we’re very much at the forefront.
“What we’re aiming to do is offer the sort of service that people are now used to getting from the likes of Amazon. At the moment, what passes for ‘next day delivery’ in the hire sector comes with a caveat: ‘to be confirmed’ or ‘call us for details’. The problem has always been that the front end just doesn’t speak to the back end.”
Shorten sincerely believes that the face of tool-hire is still changing, and he’s determined to remain at the leading edge. He notes that other hire companies are only now beginning to address the sort of technology HSS has already embraced (GAP Hire, for example, has just appointed a new chief technology officer).
Some of the larger hire firms have started to develop specialised businesses to target demand more efficiently. Tool-hire as we know it is changing – even down to the products on offer: “We’re already seeing that at the very small end – like the power tools – customers are now buying in preference to hiring,” says Shorten.
Although the idea of HSS no longer operating hire shops or owning any plant or tools may be hard to grasp, Shorten is adamant that his Amazon-style hire model is the way forward. Speedy is now on board and several other major hirers now partner with ProService, including the likes of Sunbelt and VP with their larger plant and specialist equipment.
But Shorten says that HSS ProService Marketplace isn’t just a handy conduit for uniting the big hire firms efficiently with a broader customer base. It also offers small independent firms with a means of offering a much larger range of equipment and services.
“We have loads of local market data and can partner with a hire businesses located anywhere,” says Shorten. “We can create the opportunity for new independent hirers to pop up.”
SPEEDY LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
HSS ProService has for some time contributed the lion’s share of HSS Group turnover. Its latest accounts show turnover of £290m in 2023 out of total group revenue of £349m and a pre-tax profit of £5.2m.
Speedy Hire, meanwhile, has been making losses. Its most recent results, for the half-year to September 2025, show a pre-tax loss of £15.1m on turnover of £205.2m. During the same period in 2024, Speedy made a pre-tax loss of £2.2m on the same amount of revenue.
Announcing the latest results in November, Speedy chief executive Dan Evans (pictured above) said he expects the tie-up with HSS ProService to help transform Speedy’s fortunes:
“This commercial agreement is now live and expected to generate £50-55m of annualised revenue and significant earnings accretion in its first full year after integration,” said Evans.
“Despite subdued markets, we are gaining market share and winning significant long-term contracts, leaving us far better positioned to take advantage as and when market conditions improve. As a result of our strategic progress, recent contract wins and the commercial agreement with ProService, we expect to offset the ongoing subdued market conditions…. We look forward to FY2027 with confidence.”
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