The bird's eye view of Freddie Flintoff hopefully ripping out an Aussie's middle-stump to win back the Ashes will come courtesy of a Midlands aerial hydraulics hire specialist.

Lavendon Group chief executive Kevin Appleton said: "And if that happens, they'll be a little jig of joy here, that's for sure."

The Lutterworth-based business has a regional hub at Darlaston and depots in south Birmingham, Coventry, Shrewsbury, Worcester and Stoke.

The company employs about 100 people in the West Midlands on top of the 50 who work at its HQ in Leicestershire.

Mr Appleton spoke as the company revealed its interim results to June 30. The group narrowed its underlying first half pretax loss to £1.3 million from £3.4 million a year earlier, which was in line with the firm's expectations. The company said it is looking forward to further improvements in the second half.

Lavendon provides hire equipment such as cherry pickers, scissor lifts and platforms which provide alternatives to traditional scaffolding and towers.

Mr Appleton said: "At one end we provide equipment for building repair or window cleaning, and around 50 per cent of our business is in construction. We've also got contracts in cricket, so if you've been watching the Ashes, we've provided platforms for the bird's eye shot of bowlers coming in."

Mr Appleton said anticipated projects linked to the 2012 London Olympics would provide a boost.

The group revealed revenues fell slightly to £ 47 . 9 million from £50.0 million following the anticipated reduction in German revenues as a result of the restructuring of the operation at the end of 2004, and the sale of the Austrian business.

The company said the long- awaited economic recovery in Germany still remained elusive, although conditions in the powered access market are showing signs of stabilising.

Chairman David Price said: "The group's trading performance in the first half has shown an encouraging improvement over the same period last year. This has been achieved through revenue growth and operational effeciencies in the UK combined with the predicted benefits of the restructure of our German operation being secured."

He said the company looked forward to further improvements in the second half.

The recovery in the French market had continued through the first half of this year, and now offered a stable environment in which to develop, said Lavendon.