Vehicle hire group Northgate plc increased underlying pre-tax profit to £47.8m in the first half of its 2014 financial year.
The Darlington-headquartered firm, which also operates a Spanish business, said growth in its number of vehicles on hire and the opening of new sites helped to drive profitability.
Revenues of £305m were generated on the back of new site openings and Northgate said it intends to open an average of eight to ten new sites per year.
The interim results pointed to a 1% year-on-year fall in average hire revenues per rented vehicle when compared to the same period last year - caused by the impact of the weakening Euro.
Northgate also said workshop income per vehicle had fallen because customers had become less likely to damage their vehicles.
Chairman Bob Mackenzie said: “We are pleased by the growth delivered by the group in the first six months of the year.
“This reflects the work done in recent years, in particular, supporting the continued investment being made in our people, systems and infrastructure. Our plans to open new sites in the UK are on track and trading from these new sites is exceeding our initial plans.
“The board remains confident that we are well positioned to deliver further growth and attractive returns to shareholders. The group is currently trading slightly ahead of our expectations.”
Debt increased by 15% to £397m over the period, bringing gearing to 100%.
Investors experienced a 34% increase in interim dividend to 4.3p per share, up from 3.2p in 2013.
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