Yorkshire gas and electricity supply company CNG Group saw a return to profitability despite seeing a huge drop in revenues in the first months of the pandemic.
Accounts for the Harrogate firm have shown that group turnover for the year ending October 31 2020 fell to £602.9m. Revenues in previous accounts had reached £1.2bn, though this was an 18-month period.
The company returned to profit, though, with a non-exceptional operating loss of £7.2m in previous accounts turned into a £2.9m profit.
The group said that revenues had fallen as it exited a number of shipping partnerships and the Covid-19 pandemic led to lower demand for gas.
But it said that improvements in margins, particularly in its wholesale division, had seen it record a profit.
There was a warning, however, that it was anticipating increasing credit defaults from SMEs going out of business which will stretch into its new financial year.
In the accounts, chief executive Paul Stanley said: “Across the 海角视频-wide lockdown in April and May there was a 40% reduction in gas consumption across the group 海角视频 SME customers vs seasonal normal demand.
“Leisure and hospitality sectors experienced a 70% reduction across the period as most businesses were closed and had restrictions on trade. A reduction in gas sales and a resulting loss on over hedged gas sold back to the market with falling global oil and gas prices resulted in a gross margin loss for this period.
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“In the subsequent months to October 2020, the group has traded robustly, with financial performance in its retail division generating positive margin and its wholesale division trading strongly, generating positive margin.
“In the seven months to the end of October 2020, actual consumption has resulted in a 27% reduction to seasonal normal demand, compared with management’s forecast of a 34% reduction, as leisure and hospitality sectors have recovered better than forecasted, supported by the Eat Out to Help Out scheme in August 2020.”
The accounts detail how the company underwent a corporate restructuring during the year, as well as changes to its senior leadership team that saw the appointment of a new CEO and a new CFO.
The company also reduced its headcount by 40 during the year, with staffing numbers standing at 180.