Northgate profits beat estimates

Van hire company Northgate managed to boost underlying pre-tax profits by 19 per cent to £32.2m on 2 per cent lower revenues in the first half despite the tough economic backdrop. Reducing the fleet size to meet demand and passing on 2 per cent price increases in the UK to offset a continued tough environment in Spain were key.

In fact, the UK business improved its underlying operating margin from 23.2 to 24 per cent by cutting the fleet size by 4,300 vehicles in order to keep utilisation rates – how many vans are hired – at 90 per cent. The vehicle sales brought in an extra £16.3m of revenue on the same period last year, but reduced the fleet size to 56,900, from 61,200 previously. In Spain, conditions remain tough but utilisation levels were marginally up at 91 per cent and the business benefited from strong residual values on vehicle sales. This helped underlying operating margin rise from 16.4 to 18.7 per cent.

Net debt fell a further £48m to £482m, as the group continues to reduce its debt pile, and management confirmed it is on target to achieve £5m in cost savings in the full year. Broker Peel Hunt kept their outlook unchanged and expect full-year adjusted pre-tax profit of £60m and EPS of 31.7p (from £53.8m and 28.5p in 2010).

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