Results round-up

Newcastle-based construction services firm Northern Bear on Monday upped its dividend increase after reporting growth in profits and revenue.

The AIM-traded company said full year operating profit from continuing operations rose 12% to £2.8m, while revenue jumped 17.5% to £53.6m over the same period.

Following the positive results, the company proposed an increase in its final dividend to 3.00p per share, up from 2.50p last year.

At the end of its financial year the company had a net debt position of £0.8m, compared to cash of £0.6m the previous year.

Northern Bear’s growth in sales follows its acquisition of West Yorkshire-based interiors and fit out business H Peel & Sons, snapped up in July 2017 for £2.4m.

A statement from the company said that H Peel met all of its acquisition criteria due to being well established in its sector, consistently profitable and cash generative, and having a strong management team committed to remaining with the business.

Industrial fuel cell company AFC Energy said it was now looking for partners to progress with mass production of its hydrogen fuel cell technology.

AFC said it had integrated its fuel cell stack and electrode and while this took "longer than expected", successful trials supported a "greater understanding" of the conditions for operability.

De Nora, an integration partner, and AFC Energy were both said to be working towards further cost reductions in electrode price.

Elsewhere, AFC said Australia's Southern Oil had placed an order for the company's first hydrogen power generation unit.

The AIM-listed firm also kicked off co-development activities with an unnamed European water technology company to power an off-grid drinking water supply and was now able to move ahead with its residential fuel cell programme at Dunsfold Park in the UK after the construction of 1,800 new homes was given the green light.

Adam Bond, AFC Energy's chief executive, said: "Whilst the final basis of design of the fuel cell stack has taken longer than we had hoped, I am encouraged by the results we are now seeing from integrating De Nora's manufactured electrodes with the company's new and greatly improved proprietary fuel cell stack design."

Personal healthcare company Integumen saw its share price fall more than 15% after reporting wider losses as administrative costs skyrocketed for the full year.

For the past calendar year the company recorded a loss before tax of £9.6m, up 776% from its loss the previous year, as the company’s administrative costs increased by 809% to £9.7m.

The AIM-listed outfit said £6.7m of this administrative expenditure was due to impairment of intangible assets, which did not account for any expenditure the previous year.

The charge arose from intellectual property recognised on acquisitions and development costs on certain research and development projects relating to skincare testing.

Meanwhile, the company’s revenues increased by 358% to £0.24m but this growth was below expectations.

Integumen also conditionally agreed to acquire 9.35% of Cellulac, a company concerned with the production of natural oils and biodegradable plastic ingredients, with a view to a licence agreement granting it the right to sell and license some of Cellulac's technology to third parties.

Furthermore, the company proposed to raise £0.7m through an equity placing and subscription as part of the proposed acquisition.

Tony Richardson, chairman of Integumen, said: "This was a challenging year for Integumen, attributable to the slower than anticipated growth in sales. The board has therefore taken action and considerable time to identify the optimum solution to generate shareholder returns - we believe the acquisition of a stake in Cellulac will provide the group with multiple opportunities to accelerate revenue generation and enable us to participate in the compelling market of biodegradable plastics."