FTSE 250 movers: Redde Nortgate drives ahead; Liontrust fails to roar

Commercial vehicle rental provider Redde Northgate said on Wednesday that full-year adjusted pre-tax profit was likely to be ahead of market consensus and around the top end of the consensus range following a continued strong performance across the business.

Analysts are expecting adjusted pre-tax profit of £155.2m, and a range of £149.6m to £164.4m.

In an update for the year to 30 April, it said: "The group continues to perform well and is trading ahead of expectations, with strong and resilient demand from customers for services across both vehicle rental and accident management, including growth from major insurance contracts launched over the past 12 months."

The company said constraints in UK & Ireland van supply continued for the majority of the year, but more recently there has been better visibility of future supply starting to improve, as has already been seen in the car market.

In Spain, new vehicle supply for both vans and cars is already close to normal levels, it said.

The group also said that traffic volumes and incidents are near 'normal' levels and the number of transactions across the integrated mobility platform is strong, helped by the new contract wins implemented in the year.

Chief executive Martin Ward said: "The strategy of delivering an integrated mobility platform has enabled us to provide a unique offering to a wide range of partners and customers and is bearing fruit. This is reflected in the strength of performance across the business, despite ongoing supply chain challenges and direct inflation seen most notably in areas such as vehicle repairs.

"As we look forward, the group is performing at record levels, there is more interest in our platform than ever before and we have a strong base from which to make strategic progress in the coming year."

Hunting said it had seen a strong start to the year on Wednesday, after first-quarter earnings came in ahead of expectations.

The energy services firm said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were $22.6m in the three months to March end, ahead of management forecasts. That compares to EBITDA of $15.8m in the previous three months and $6.7m in the first quarter of 2022.

Hunting said its margin had been strengthened by increased prices and higher facility utilisation. The sales order book was unchanged at around $500m.

The firm, which was founded in 1874, left full-year guidance for EBITDA unchanged, however, at $88m.

Jim Johnson, chief executive, said: "Hunting has begun 2023 strongly.

"Activity across the global energy industry is robust, with opportunities in oil and gas, carbon capture and geothermal developments accelerating as post-Covid growth, energy security requirements and energy transition legislation is announced.

"The board is comfortable with market expectations and reiterates its expectations for continued growth in year-on-year revenue and EBITDA."

Transport operator National Express reported a rise in first-quarter revenues driven by an improvement in UK buses and German rail.

Revenues rose 25% to £774.4m, in line with expectations, the company said on Wednesday, adding that its Spanish subsidiary ALSA reported strong growth, particularly in long haul and Morocco.

In the UK, revenue grew 27% year on year, with scheduled coach revenue up 87% on the prior year, reflecting the recovery from the Covid related network shutdown in prior year and the impact of the rail strikes in the UK.

"During the quarter, the business was impacted by the now settled UK Bus drivers' strike, and the associated pay settlement. Whilst that pay settlement was higher than expected, we are working internally, and with our partners Transport for West Midlands, towards mitigating the impact of these and other cost increases," the company said.

The German rail business rose 10% on 2022, reflecting the continuing operation of the Lot 1 contract on an emergency basis, with plans "well progressed" to transition to the 10-year contract from late 2023.

National Express said it expected a 13% average price increases on US bus contracts expiring in the current bid season.

It added that it was also implementing a wide-ranging productivity improvement and cost-reduction programme in response to ongoing industry and economic uncertainties, without cutting front-line roles or capacity for growth.

Multi-asset financial technology company Plus500 reported strong trading in a first-quarter update on Wednesday.

The FTSE 250 firm reported revenue of $207.9m, a 64% increase from the fourth quarter of 2022, and EBITDA of $100.9m, a 116% improvement.

Its EBITDA margin also improved, to 49% from 37%.

The company said it attracted 28,201 new customers in the first quarter - a 10% increase from the previous quarter - bringing the total number of active customers to 137,053, which was ahead 5%.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) increased 57%, to $1,517 in the first quarter from $968 in the final three months of 2022.

The average user acquisition cost (AUAC) decreased 6%, to $1,381 from $1,462.

Plus500 said its solid performance was driven by its investments in product innovation to attract and retain higher-value customers.

It launched 'Plus500 Futures’, a new generation of its business-to-consumer (B2C) proprietary trading platform specifically tailored for the US futures retail trading market.

The company also obtained a new licence in the high-growth United Arab Emirates market, expanding its geographic footprint.

Its board said it remained confident over the company’s prospects, and was expecting its performance for the full 2023 financial year to be in line with current market expectations.

The company was continuing to build on its strong position in the substantial futures market in the US, supported by its best-in-class technology and robust financial position.

“Plus500 produced another strong performance in the first quarter, again driven by our unique proprietary technology stack proposition, which attracts and retains higher value customers over the long term,” said chief executive officer David Zruia.

“We have a range of extremely exciting strategic growth opportunities ahead of us, particularly in the US futures market, enabling us to accelerate our development as a diversified, global multi-asset fintech group with a highly valuable customer base and market leading capabilities.

“Supported by further organic investments and targeted acquisitions, we remain confident that Plus500 is well-positioned to deliver sustainable growth and strong, consistent returns over the medium to long-term.”

Software company Kainos said on Wednesday that results for the year to the end of March were set to be line with consensus forecasts as trading has remained "very strong" across all three divisions.

Consensus expectations are for full-year revenue of between £351.7m and £378m and adjusted pre-tax profit of £66.1m to £68.0m.

The company said in an update that new and existing clients have maintained high levels of investment in digital solutions.

Kainos said that against a backdrop of sustained market demand, its digital services teams continue to deliver "major" transformation programmes to new and existing clients across the public, commercial and healthcare sectors.

Meanwhile, the workday services division continues to benefit from "a well-established global presence and reputation".

Within the workday products division, the company has three products: Smart Test (for automated testing), Smart Audit (for compliance monitoring) and Smart Shield (for data masking).

"We have maintained our very strong annual recurring revenue growth trajectory as we continue to expand our international client base," it said.

"Our performance has been underpinned by our long-term customer relationships, and we remain extremely grateful to our customers for the trust that they have placed in Kainos to help them deliver their ambitious digital projects."

Kainos added: "While we are cognisant of the global macroeconomic landscape, our robust pipeline, strong balance sheet and significant contracted backlog underpin our confidence in our outlook. As a result, we believe that we are well-positioned for further growth and remain confident in our strategy."

Liontrust Asset Management said on Wednesday that annual profits were on course to come in ahead of expectations, despite a "challenging" year for the industry.

Updating on trading for the year to 31 March, the fund management group said net outflows were £4.8m, compared to £2.5m a year previously, while assets under management and advice fell 3.6% to £31.4m.

However, adjusted pre-tax profits would not be less than £86m, the FTSE 250 firm added, ahead of market forecasts. Profits were boosted by stronger-than-expected fee revenues of around £17m, compared to £12.6m a year previously.

John Ions, chief executive, said: "It has been a challenging year for Liontrust in terms of net outflows and mixed performance for our funds. But this has to be set against a backdrop of the industry in aggregate suffering UK retail net outflows in ten out of the 12 months last year.

"Despite these headwinds, Liontrust has delivered impressive financial performance.

"The business as a whole is operating well and we will continue to broaden our products and distribution channel."