Oil and gas sector growth boosts revenue at Northbridge

GROUP revenue climbed by more than £6m at Burton-based Northbridge Industrial Services last year, the company announced today.

In its preliminary Results for the year ended December 31, 2010, consolidated group revenue rose year-on-year from £12.7m to £19.3m.

Pre-tax profits also increased from £2.2m to £3.7m while gross margins increased slightly from 59.1% to 62.4%.

Earnings per share at Northbridge, an industrial services and rental company, climbed from 19.1p to 25.8p while the company posted £6m in cash generation from operations, up from £4.5m.

The firm said it had invested £4.4m into its hire fleet, a drop from £5.5m during 2009.

The statement added: “2011 has started well and our main customer base of power generation and the oil and gas sectors is seeing growth in most markets.

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“We are encouraged by progress across the group and look forward to achieving our objectives and announcing further developments for the group during the year.”

Chief executive Eric Hook said: “We are pleased with the group’s performance in 2010 and the positive start to 2011 and hope this will to lead to further good growth for the rest of the year and beyond.

“The performance of Tasman is encouraging and its integration into Northbridge is continuing as planned.

“The global economy continues to improve despite recent world events and as a sign of the board’s confidence in the group’s prospects an increase in the dividend of 12.2% for the year has been proposed.”