Northern Bear – a ten year success story

Despite winters of heavy and prolonged snowfall, unprecedented gales and flooding and the worst recession in the building services sector in living memory, Northern Bear plc meets the tenth anniversary of its flotation on AIM this week with a strong track record and optimism for the future.
Northern Bear is a group of specialist building services companies that provide roofing, materials handling, and other specialist services to the public sector and construction industry throughout Northern England. The subsidiary companies have long track records of success in the industry and on average were founded over 30 years ago.

Northern Bear has shown an ability to buck construction industry trends and consistently generate profits and cash when others have floundered. During the last recession operations were restructured and the Group has consistently turned profitability into cash and reduced bank debt from a peak of circa £11m to below £3m.

Despite the adverse weather conditions referred to above, in the year to 31 March 2016, the group managed to maintain operating profits at the same high level as those achieved in the previous year. This strong performance has continued in the first half of the current financial year. The interim results to September 2016 recently announced show operating profits of £1.24m, up from £1.08m in the corresponding period last year.
The Executive Board, which consists of Steve Roberts (Chairman), Graham Jennings (Managing Director), Keith Soulsby (Operations Director) and Tom Hayes (Finance Director), have transformed the group and its profitability but recognise that trading results are largely attributable to the strength of the subsidiary management teams and the loyal workforce who themselves have felt some financial pain through the tough times.

In the past year alone, the Group’s reputation for quality workmanship helped its companies win contracts across the North on prestige projects such as Acklam Hall (Middlesbrough), Alnwick Castle (Northumberland), Haworth Parish Church, The Literary and Philosophical Society (Newcastle), Hexham Bus Station (Northumberland), St George’s Quarter (Huddersfield) and Souter Lighthouse (Sunderland).

Graham Jennings commented

“We have a fantastic workforce that has supported the Group through some difficult times. We are delighted that we have now been able to start rewarding both them and our shareholders for their loyalty.”

Northern Bear was able to re-introduce a dividend policy in 2014 and subsequently adopt a progressive policy, which is expected to continue. Recognition of its achievements is reflected in the share price, which has climbed from 8.5p to 49p over the past five years.

Now well positioned to grow organically and looking to make bolt-on acquisitions, the Group’s
policies of recruiting and training workers through its apprenticeship scheme and pro-actively seeking to develop a strong and reliable supplier network are now paying dividends as the volume of work increases.

The order book remains strong and we look forward to the future with optimism.”

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