The Board of Redde Northgate Plc are confident the integration of FMG RS, following the acquisition of Nationwide on 4 September 2020, will be earnings enhancing in FY2022 following a loss-making initial period.
In its preliminary audited results for the 12 months ended 30 April 2021 the business reported the integration of FMG RS ‘progressed well in the second half of the year, including the appointment of a new management team’.
It stated: ‘the business continued to be impacted by lower repair volumes during COVID-19 lockdowns and was loss-making through FY2021, but the Board remains confident that the acquisition will be earnings enhancing in FY2022, the first full financial year of ownership’.
The results also highlighted the group’s development of contract hire, expanding to LCVs in the fleet, and at year-end £17m of credit lines (2020: £nil) had been utilised on 1,600 commercial vehicles.
It also points to the roll-out of the new accident and incident management product to Northgate customers, launched in October, ‘is progressing well and has seen good take-up with several thousand vehicles signed up to date’.
Elsewhere in the business it has created a new small claims system called Pilot to manage claims post accident whiplash reforms, a new traffic officer app to support Highways Agency traffic officers at the roadside and a new online claims portal to enable more efficient processing of claims.
Overall, revenue (excluding vehicle sales) was 50.2% higher than the prior year, with the increase mainly due to the inclusion of Redde for a full year.
Martin Ward, CEO of Redde Northgate, commented: “Last year we focused on the integration of the businesses following the merger. That work is largely complete, ahead of time, with £20.5m of cost savings secured. Our next strategic priority is to grow revenue under our Drive phase and to utilise the services and infrastructure platform we have built to extend our market reach.”
