Northbridge Industrial Services (NBI ) said it is now in the position to recommend a resumption of dividends based as a result of its 2021 performance in 2021 and its outlook going forward.
The power reliability company said a final dividend for 2021 of 1.0 pence per share will be proposed at the company’s Annual General Meeting to be held on 9 June 2022. Subject to shareholder approval, the dividend will then be paid on the 16 June 2022 to shareholders.
Northbridge confirmed the exit of Tasman - its oil drilling rental tools division - in February.
At the beginning of the month, the company completed the sale of its Tasman operations in Australia and New Zealand for an initial payment of A$6.0m (£3.16m). A total consideration of A$7.85m (£4.13m) will be paid in three additional instalments, with the final due in 12 months.
Following the completion of this transaction, the only remaining asset of the Tasman division is the operation in the Middle East and the disposal of this business will now be progressed.
The activities of the Group will now be focused on its Crestchic power reliability division and, in recognition of this repositioning, a resolution will be put forward at the AGM to rename the Group to Crestchic Plc. The company added that the TIDM ‘LOAD’ has now been reserved.
Meanwhile, in an update on its trading performance, the company confirmed that the positive start to the 2022 financial year, as noted back on 18 February 2022, has continued to date.
At the time, the company told investors that it was confident pre-tax profit for the year ended 31 December 2021 would be in line with management’s expectations with revenue expected to have increased to £38.8m as a result of the ‘significant’ growth across its Crestchic division.
In its trading update ahead of its results announcement for the year ended 31 December 2021 scheduled for April 2022, the industrial services and rental company said group revenue for the year is expected to have increased to £38.8 million, up from £34.0m reported in 2020.
In particular, the company reported ‘significant’ growth within its Crestchic division, which designs, manufactures and hires loadbanks to test generators and critical power supplies. The division’s revenues increased by 20% to £29.4m, up from £24.6m reported in 2020.
Within Crestchic, hire revenue increased by 34% to £15.4m, up from £11.5m in the prior year, while d sales and service revenue increased by 7% to £14m, up slightly from £13.1m in 2020.
With demand continuing to be strong, equipment sales would have grown further ‘but for capacity and supply chain constraints,’ which the company expects to be resolved when the factory expansion comes on stream in the second quarter of 2022, it reported at the time.
Meanwhile, the Company said it remains in a highly cash generative position with year-end pre-IFRS 16 net debt having fallen to £1m, down from £5.4m as at 31 December 2021.
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