9:42am Thursday 18th March 2010
more cuts VAN hire firm Northgate yesterday warned it would be looking to make further efficiencies and cost reductions.
The Darlington-based company, which operates in the UK, Irish and Spanish commercial vehicle markets, last year made a series of cutbacks in what was described as “taking all its medicine in one swallow”.
The business axed more than 350 jobs from February last year, after recording a £195.6m loss during the second half of 2008, and made cutbacks among its vehicle and depot numbers, although earlier this year announced it would be replacing almost a third of its 60,000-strong fleet.
In an interim management update yesterday, it was revealed the company’s overall debt stood at £706m at the end of October, but that it is on target to reduce this to below £650m by the end of next month – £236m lower than the same period last year.
In a statement, Northgate said: “As expected, the macroeconomic conditions continue to adversely affect the group’s markets, with the outlook for the UK remaining uncertain and Spain continuing to be very difficult.
“Although the need to be cautious remains, we expect the outcome for the full year to be in line with expectations at the time of the interim results announcement in December.”
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