Construction group Northern Bear has boosted revenue and profits having made a strong start to its current financial year.
The Newcastle building services specialist revealed an 8.7% increase in revenue to £36.9m in the six months to the end of September, and grew operating profit by 20.9% to £1.8m. Bosses told investors that site activity had remained high despite the backdrop of economic uncertainty.
At the same time the London Stock Exchange-listed firm announced a £3.1m tender offer which will see the exit of chairman Jeff Baryshnik has been approved and is fully subscribed. The offer invited shareholders to tender ordinary shares for purchase by the company - a move which is now expected to be completed in just over a week.
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Mr Baryshnik resigned immediately after the firm's November 15 annual general meeting and existing board member Harry Samuel has taken up the role of interim non-executive chairman until a replacement is appointed. Northern Bear has funded the tender offer move via cash resources and £1m of debt via its facility Clydesdale Bank plc.
Within the next results, the firm said all of its divisions, including roofing, specialist building services and materials handling divisions had made contributions during the six months. But it said its Arcas Building Solutions business had been involved in a small number of contracts which had led to losses of £733,000 but the appointment in April of former Esh Group man John Davies as managing director was said to have made significant improvements to the business, which is now trading profitably.
Writing in the half year results, Mr Samuel said the group was trading in line with management expectations and with a strong forward order book. He said: "The timing of group turnover and profitability is, however, difficult to predict, and our results are subject to monthly variability. In addition, whilst on site activity levels have been encouraging, overall group performance is dependent on a number of factors outside of management's control, including macro-economic factors and their impact on the construction industry, any prolonged spells of severe weather, supply-chain and construction materials availability, and ongoing challenges with attracting and retaining employees within the construction industry.
"Notwithstanding the inherent uncertainties associated with our industry, the group has made an excellent start to FY24 and has the potential to trade ahead of strong prior year results should the current level of performance continue."