By Iain Gilbert
Date: Tuesday 15 Oct 2019
LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Building services provider Northern Bear saw trading improve throughout the second quarter after a number of contract delays impacted the group's first three months of the year.
Northern Bear said on Tuesday that its second quarter had been "much stronger" than the first and ahead of the corresponding period a year earlier, with the majority of postponed new contracts having now commenced.
However, whilst the AIM-listed firm said it was "greatly encouraged" by its second-quarter performance, slower trading in the first quarter would still mean that reported results for the half would be below those reported twelve months earlier.
"The board's current expectation is that operating profit, stated before amortisation and other adjustments (in the format used in our FY19 results), is expected to be in the range of £1.3m to £1.4m (H1 FY19: £1.7m)," said Northern Bear.
Northern Bear told investors that it continued to hold a "significant" order book and expected its strong momentum during the second quarter to extend into the second half of the financial year.
"We consider the outlook for the current financial year to remain positive, despite continued uncertainty in the macro-economic environment, and are hopeful of reporting another strong set of full-year results."
As of 1020 BST, Northern Bear shares were up 2.75% at 70.90p.