A listed plant hire firm has revealed it took a £35m hit from the collapse of North East electric battery business Britishvolt.
Ashstead Group – which trades as Sunbelt – was a major investor in the start-up, which had hoped to build a £3.8bn battery manufacturer near Blyth, Northumberland, before crashing in January as it failed to secure the funds it needed. Last June the firm had announced a strategic partnership with Britishvolt which would have seen the manufacturer produce batteries for a range of heavy plant equipment – moves which would hopefully de-carbonise the construction and equipment rental sectors via electrification.
Britishvolt and Sunbelt had planned to jointly operate an ‘onsite rental facility’ in a boost to Britishvolt’s ESG strategy at the time.Now however, the FTSE 100 construction plant rental company has confirmed it will be taking a $42m (£35m) write-off on its investment in this year’s accounts, following Britishvolt’s failure.
