13th Jul 2020 10:17
(Alliance News) - Northern Bear PLC on Monday posted lower earnings for financial 2020, but said that while activity in April was low due to Covid-19, it noticed an improvement in May and June.
Shares in the building services firm were trading 0.9% lower at 55.00 pence each on Monday morning in London.
For the year to March 31, Northern Bear posted pretax profit of GBP1.8 million, down 41% year-on-year from GBP3.1 million. This was on revenue of GBP54.4 million, which was 3.9% lower than GBP56.6 million recorded the year prior.
The Newcastle-based company blamed its poor performance on contract delays in the first quarter, the negative effects of Brexit uncertainty, the general election, record breaking storms in spring and the Covid-19 outbreak. However it said it remained "pleased " with its performance in light of the cited circumstances.
No final dividend was declared due to uncertainty on its trading outlook and no interim dividend was declared during the year. However, it said it intends to resume dividend payouts for financial 2021. For financial 2019, the company had paid a final dividend of 3.25p and a special dividend of 0.75p.
Looking ahead, Northern Bear expressed confidence in its "strong" order book and noted that while the outbreak resulted in a slow-down in activity in May, current activity levels are at around 75% of normal levels.
Whilst there remains the possibility of a second wave of Covid-19 infections and renewed restrictions, the government has encouraged the construction industry to remain active and we hope that the revised safety guidance now in place will reduce future disruption to our site activities. In the meantime, we have an even stronger order book, which has pleasingly continued to increase during the lock down period and should support a return to a much improved level of operating performance across the group in the coming months," said Chair Steve Roberts.
As at the end of March, the company had a net cash of GBP200,000.
By Ife Taiwo; [email protected].
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