Share placing funds deal payments

Northbridge Industrial Services has raised £2.5m in a share placing, part of which will fund the deferred payment on a deal.

The industrial services and rental company owed £1.05m following its purchase of Tasman Oil Tools and Tasman Oil Tools Leasing. It had already deferred the payment for more than two years to a new deadline of July 7 this year, costing around £210,000 in interest payments.

Tasman Oil Tools is one of Northbridge’s five group companies and supplies drilling equipment, support products and specialised services operating from Australia, New Zealand and Dubai.

Northbridge Industrial Services acquires companies that hire and sell specialist industrial equipment supplying a customer base including utility companies, the public sector and the oil and gas industries.

Eric Hook, chief executive of Northbridge, said: “This placing of new equity, taken together with the issue of the convertible loan notes in April 2018, has been well supported by a number of our major shareholders.

“It ensures that we are in the best possible position to take advantage of a recovery in our markets and brings down our net gearing to below 20%.”

The Burton on Trent group will use the rest of the money raised to support working capital as it prepares for potential further investment in oil field rental equipment, if Northbridge’s oil and gas markets maintain their recovery.

The placing of 2m shares was at 125p, with Northbridge’s share price trading close to a three-year high.

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