Northern Bear shares jump as board pursues dividend strategy

Northern Bear updated the market on its corporate strategy, dividend policy, and trading for the year ended 31 March on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded firm’s board said it had decided to pursue a dividend growth strategy supported by organic progress and bolt-on acquisitions.

It said it was intending to declare an ordinary dividend of 4p per share, as well as a special dividend of 1p per share for the 2023 financial year, subject to the finalisation of audited results.

Going forward, the ordinary dividend would be paid semi-annually, with half paid after each year-end and half-year period, respectively.

Additionally, the company said it was planning to increase its engagement with the broader investment community.

Northern Bear’s trading update indicated that, despite ongoing industry-wide challenges in the construction sector, the group generated strong operating results for the six months ended 30 September last year.

It said it had traded ahead of the prior year's results, except for a provision at its Northern Bear Building Services subsidiary, expected to be in the range of £0.5m to £0.75m, to account for certain unprofitable contracts.

The board said it anticipated that operating profit for the full year ended 31 March, before amortisation, one-off costs, and other adjustments, should exceed £2.75m, or £2m to £2.25m of reported operating profit, net of the provision.

It said it also expected to have a net cash position at year-end, although it had previously emphasised that the net cash or bank debt position could vary “significantly and rapidly”, given the nature, size, and variety of contracts and their associated working capital requirements.

“We are pleased to announce strong expected operating results for 2023, and are excited to implement our dividend growth strategy,” said non-executive chairman Jeff Baryshnik.

“We look forward to further engaging with shareholders and the wider investment community to inform them about the group.”

Northern Bear said it expected to release its unaudited preliminary results for the 12 months ended 31 March in the week of 17 July.

At 1120 BST, shares in Northern Bear were up 28.92% at 47.7p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.