30th Jun 2015 06:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 250-listed commercial light vehicle rental company Northgate PLC on Tuesday said pretax profit surged in its 2015 financial year as revenue rose across both hire and sale business, prompting the company to hike its dividend payout by nearly half.
Northgate said its pretax profit in the year to April 30 was GBP83 million, up from GBP51.2 million a year earlier. Total revenue for the company rose to GBP614.3 million from GBP571.5 million, as vehicle hire revenue rose to GBP456.8 million from GBP442.3 million, and vehicle sale revenue rose to GBP157.4 million from GBP129.2 million.
The group saw its vehicle-on-hire volumes grow in both the UK and Spain, while its average fleet utilisation over the course of the year was 88% in the UK, flat year-on-year, and 91% in Spain, down from 92%. The group closed the year with a fleet of 56,100 in the UK, up from 53,900, and 39,400 in Spain, up from 37,800.
The results prompted the company to raise its final dividend to 10.2 pence per share from 6.8 pence a year earlier, meaning its total dividend payout rises by 45% to 14.5 pence from 10.0 pence.
"It's been another year of progress across the group, and it's pleasing to see this translate into a strong set of results. We remain particularly focused on targeting growth with small and medium sized customers across the UK and Spain and there have been encouraging increases in the number of vehicles on hire in both countries," said Bob Contreras, Northgate's chief executive.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, Northgate also announced Chairman Bob Mackenzie will retire from his role following the company's annual general meeting in September. He will be replaced by Andrew Page, who joined Northgate as senior independent director in December 2014.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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