Organization, Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

United Rentals, Inc. (“Holdings,” “URI” or the “Company”) is principally a holding company and conducts its operations primarily through its wholly owned subsidiary, United Rentals (North America), Inc. (“URNA”), and subsidiaries of URNA. Holdings’ primary asset is its sole ownership of all issued and outstanding shares of common stock of URNA. URNA’s various credit agreements and debt instruments place restrictions on its ability to transfer funds to its shareholder.

We rent equipment to a diverse customer base that includes construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and government entities in the United States and Canada. In addition to renting equipment, we sell new and used rental equipment, as well as related contractor supplies, parts and service.

We have prepared the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in accordance with the accounting policies described in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 (the “2016 Form 10-K”) and the interim reporting requirements of Form 10-Q. Accordingly, certain information and note disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) have been condensed or omitted. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the 2016 Form 10-K.

In our opinion, all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, which are necessary for a fair presentation of financial condition, operating results and cash flows for the interim periods presented have been made. Interim results of operations are not necessarily indicative of the results of the full year.

New Accounting Pronouncements

Revenue from Contracts with Customers. In May 2014, and in subsequent updates, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued guidance to clarify the principles for recognizing revenue. This guidance includes the required steps to achieve the core principle that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. This guidance will be effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and early adoption (for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2016) is permitted. We expect to adopt this guidance when effective.

Owned equipment rental revenue is a component of our rental revenue that accounted for 87 percent and 74 percent of our equipment rental revenue and total revenue, respectively, during the three months ended March 31, 2017. We believe the accounting for owned equipment rental revenue is outside of the scope of the revenue guidance and will be evaluated under the new lease guidance described in more detail in the “Leases” disclosure below.

Additionally, we have reviewed the accounting for sales of rental equipment, sales of new equipment and contractor supplies sales, which collectively accounted for 12 percent of our total revenues during the three months ended March 31, 2017. While our review of these revenue items is ongoing, we do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a significant impact on our financial statements associated with these items. The impact on our financial statements associated with our other revenue components is not currently estimable. We are also evaluating the impact of the new revenue standard on our internal controls over financial reporting.

Leases. In March 2016, the FASB issued guidance (“Topic 842”) to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by requiring i) recognition of lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet and ii) disclosure of key information about leasing arrangements. Some changes to the lessor accounting guidance were made to align both of the following: i) the lessor accounting guidance with certain changes made to the lessee accounting guidance and ii) key aspects of the lessor accounting model with revenue recognition guidance. Topic 842 will be effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2018, and early adoption is permitted. A modified retrospective approach is required for adoption for all leases that exist at or commence after the date of initial application with an option to use certain practical expedients. We expect to adopt this guidance when effective, and the impact on our financial statements is not currently estimable.

Statement of Cash Flows. In August 2016, the FASB issued guidance to reduce the diversity in the presentation of certain cash receipts and cash payments presented and classified in the statement of cash flows. The guidance addresses the following specific cash flow issues: (1) debt prepayment or debt extinguishment costs, (2) settlement of zero-coupon debt instruments or other debt instruments with coupon interest rates that are insignificant in relation to the effective interest rate of the borrowing, (3) contingent consideration payments made after a business combination, (4) proceeds from the settlement of insurance claims, (5) proceeds from settlement of corporate-owned life insurance policies, including bank-owned life insurance policies, (6) distributions received from equity method investees, (7) beneficial interests in securitization transitions and (8) separately identifiable cash flows and application of predominance principle. The guidance will be effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and early adoption is permitted. The guidance requires retrospective adoption. We expect to adopt this guidance when effective, and do not expect the guidance to have a significant impact on our financial statements.

Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. In June 2016, the FASB issued guidance that will require companies to present assets held at amortized cost and available for sale debt securities net of the amount expected to be collected. The guidance requires the measurement of expected credit losses to be based on relevant information from past events, including historical experiences, current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts that affect collectibility. The guidance will be effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019 and early adoption is permitted for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Different components of the guidance require modified retrospective or prospective adoption. We are currently assessing whether we will early adopt, and the impact on our financial statements is not currently estimable.

Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory. In October 2016, the FASB issued guidance that will require companies to recognize the income tax effects of intra-entity sales and transfers of assets other than inventory in the period in which the transfer occurs. The guidance will be effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and early adoption is permitted. The guidance requires modified retrospective adoption. We expect to adopt this guidance when effective, and do not expect the guidance to have a significant impact on our financial statements.

Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment. In January 2017, the FASB issued guidance intended to simplify the subsequent accounting for goodwill acquired in a business combination. Prior guidance required utilizing a two-step process to review goodwill for impairment. A second step was required if there was an indication that an impairment may exist, and the second step required calculating the potential impairment by comparing the implied fair value of the reporting unit's goodwill (as if purchase accounting were performed on the testing date) with the carrying amount of the goodwill. The new guidance eliminates the second step from the goodwill impairment test. Under the new guidance, an entity should perform its annual, or interim, goodwill impairment test by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount, and then recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value (although the loss should not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to the reporting unit). The guidance requires prospective adoption and will be effective for annual or interim goodwill impairment tests in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption of this guidance is permitted for interim or annual goodwill impairment tests performed on testing dates after January 1, 2017. We expect to adopt this guidance when effective, and do not expect it to have a significant impact on our financial statements.

Guidance Adopted in 2017

Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting. In the first quarter of 2017, we adopted guidance that simplified several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and classification on the statement of cash flows. We prospectively adopted the amendments in this guidance that relate to the classification of excess tax benefits from share-based payment arrangements on the statement of cash flows. The excess tax benefits from share-based payment arrangements result from stock-based compensation windfall deductions in excess of the amounts reported for financial reporting purposes. In the three months ended March 31, 2017, we recognized $8 of such excess tax benefits, and, pursuant to the adopted guidance, net income increased by $8, or $0.09 per basic and diluted share, reflecting the tax reduction associated with the excess tax benefits. Prior periods have not been adjusted to reflect the new guidance related to the classification of the excess tax benefits, as we have elected to prospectively adopt such guidance. Accordingly, our statement of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2016 reflects $27 of such excess tax benefits within net cash used in financing activities. All of the excess tax benefits for the three months ended March 31, 2016 pertain to share based payments that vested prior to 2016, and, accordingly, would not have impacted net income under the new guidance.

Other significant components of the adopted guidance include:

•

Certain aspects of the guidance require a cumulative change to retained earnings upon adoption, though we did not recognize any such change. In 2016, we utilized all of the prior excess tax benefits from share-based payments that vested through 2016, and, accordingly, no change to retained earnings was required. Additionally, upon adopting this guidance, we elected to record forfeitures of share-based payments as they occur. Making such an election requires a cumulative change to retained earnings upon adoption. However, we historically adjusted estimated forfeitures to reflect actual forfeitures annually, as a result of which no change to retained earnings was required.


•	The guidance requires that cash paid by an employer to a taxing authority when directly withholding shares for tax-withholding purposes should be classified as a financing activity on the statement of cash flows. We have historically classified such payments as financing activities, so no retrospective change was required to our 2016 statement of cash flows.

NES Acquisition

On January 25, 2017, we entered into a definitive merger agreement with NES Rentals Holdings II, Inc. (“NES”), pursuant to which we agreed to acquire NES in an all cash transaction. The merger closed on April 3, 2017. The aggregate merger consideration paid to holders of NES common stock and options was approximately $965. The merger and related fees and expenses were funded through available cash, drawings on current debt facilities and new debt issuances. See note 6 to the condensed consolidated financial statements for additional detail on the debt issuances. NES was a provider of rental equipment with 73 branches located throughout the eastern half of the U.S., and had approximately 1,100 employees and approximately $900 of rental assets at original equipment cost as of December 31, 2016. NES had annual revenues of approximately $369. We expect to initiate a restructuring program in connection with the acquisition, and are identifying the actions that we expect to undertake under the program.