31 May 2018 07:00
31 May 2018
Northbridge Industrial Services Plc
("Northbridge" or the "Group")
AGM Statement
Northbridge Industrial Services Plc, the industrial services and rental company, announces that at the Annual General Meeting to be held later today at 12.00 noon, its Chairman, Peter Harris, will make the following AGM Statement:
"As we noted in the preliminary results announcement on 12 April 2018, sentiment in the oil and gas industry had begun to improve following the agreement between OPEC and other producer countries to reduce surpluses. This improvement in sentiment has become more noticeable since the beginning of the year, as the price of Brent crude continued to increase and approached $80 per barrel, and exploration and production activities have increased. This has been most apparent in our operations in Australia and our newly formed Joint Venture in Malaysia, with our local partner, Olio Resources SDN BHD. As a result of this, we have placed our first capital investment order for drill pipe since 2014. However, whilst activities have begun to increase, rental rates still remain depressed and will take some further time to recover.
Other areas of Northbridge's operations continue to be resilient, most notably Crestchic Loadbanks, which is involved in power reliability. Rental revenues in Western Europe remain robust and will be supported by a contract relating to the FIFA World Cup. It is still too early in the oil and gas recovery cycle to have a beneficial impact on power commissioning work that Crestchic is involved in, but there are more positive signs for the longer term.
Northbridge's business model is focused mainly towards rental of equipment and therefore the Group has high operational gearing, which is coupled with a strong cash flow and a conservative depreciation policy.
Northbridge's balance sheet remains strong and the Group has a substantial portfolio of rental assets which are readily available for deployment. This gives us confidence to take advantage as the recovery momentum increases."
-Ends-
For further information
Northbridge Industrial Services Plc 01283 531645
Eric Hook, Chief Executive Officer
Iwan Phillips, Finance Director
Stockdale Securities Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker) 020 7601 6100
Robert Finlay / Antonio Bossi / Henry Willcocks
Buchanan 020 7466 5000
Charles Ryland / Stephanie Watson/ Catriona Flint
About Northbridge:
Northbridge Industrial Services plc hires and sells specialist industrial equipment. With offices or agents in the UK, USA, The Middle East, Belgium, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, China, Brazil and South Korea, Northbridge has a global customer base. This includes utility companies, the oil and gas sector, shipping, banking, mining, construction and the public sector. The product range includes loadbanks, transformers, and oil tools. Northbridge was admitted to AIM in 2006 since when it has grown by providing a high level of service, responsiveness and flexibility to customers. It has grown by the acquisition of companies in the UK, Dubai, Australia, Belgium, New Zealand and Singapore and through investing further in those acquired companies to make them more successful. Northbridge continues to seek suitable businesses for acquisition across the world.