Northern Bear Regulatory News (NTBR)

13 Oct 2009 07:00



13 October 2009

Northern Bear PLC

("Northern Bear" or the "Company")

Trading Update, Contract Wins and Directorate Change

The board of directors of Northern Bear (the "Board") is pleased to announce a trading update ahead of the publication of the interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2009.

Trading Update

Northern Bear has secured a number of new contract wins towards the end of the first half of the current financial year.

Jennings Roofing ("Jennings") has been awarded a contract worth in excess of £2.00 million for reroofing and associated works, by a significant housing association, based in the north west of England. These works are currently scheduled to be completed by 31 March 2010 and Jennings is hopeful of securing further opportunities with the same client in the future.

Jennings currently has committed orders for the period to March 2010 of approximately £4.50 million, which represents its strongest contract pipeline for two years.

Springs Roofing Limited ("Springs") has been awarded a contract valued at £1.00 million in respect of reroofing and associated works via a consortium of social housing providers, with housing stock in the north east of England. This work is scheduled to be completed by 31 March 2010.

MGM Limited has secured contracts valued at approximately £2.25 million, with work to commence within the next four weeks. The work includes fabric repair to 700 homes owned by a significant social housing provider based in the north east of England..

Hastie D Burton Limited has secured contracts valued at circa. £0.85 million, with work to commence immediately.

The new contracts described above, totalling in excess of £6.00 million, will contribute significantly to revenues and profitability during the second half of the financial year and the Directors therefore expect that results for the year to 31 March 2010 will be weighted accordingly.

As disclosed in the announcement on 29 September 2009, trading in the first half of the year has been very challenging. During this period, following a particularly difficult first quarter, there has been a significant improvement in activity since the beginning of July. Whilst it is not possible to assess the outcome for the full year with any certainty, the above contract wins, together with the results for the second quarter, allow the Directors to view the future with increased confidence.

Following the announcement made by the Company on 29 September 2009, in which Northern Bear reported ongoing discussions with its bankers in respect of certain of its banking facilities and covenants, the Company wishes to announce that these discussions are still ongoing, and that the Company will provide further updates in due course.

Directorate Change

David Jay has agreed to step down as Finance Director of the Company but will remain on the Board, as a Non-Executive Director. David has been replaced by Steve Roberts, currently a Non-Executive Director of Northern Bear. Steve was the Finance Director of the Company at the time of flotation and as such has a thorough understanding of its businesses, and the important issues that the Company faces.

Graham Forrest, Chief Executive of the Company, said, "Like many businesses in the UK and Europe, Northern Bear has experienced challenging trading conditions as a result of the depressed economic climate. However, we have a robust and proven business model and a very experienced management team, further strengthened by Steve Roberts' move to Finance Director, and we are confident that as the economy improves, we are well positioned to capitalise on increased trading activity. Further evidence of our ability to win significant business can be found in the contract wins described above. I am confident that Northern Bear is well positioned to benefit from any improvements in the economic climate".