Northern Bear plc
Northern Bear plc is a North of England support-services group operating through ten trading subsidiaries in three segments: Roofing (slating, tiling, leadwork, felting, refurbishment and maintenance), Materials Handling (supply, service, hire and maintenance of forklift trucks and warehouse equipment) and Specialist Building Services (building maintenance, refurbishment, electrical contracting, fire protection and sound insulation). It serves both public sector frameworks (schools, healthcare, infrastructure) and private/new-build housing clients, and grows via organic investment and selective bolt-on acquisitions.
FY2026 in sixty seconds
year to 31 Mar 2026 · approved 17 Jul 2026 · 78 pages · Companies House
Northern Bear plc, a North of England group doing roofing, building services and forklift truck supply and hire, grew revenue to £86.1m in the year to 31 March 2026, from £78.1m the year before. Profit before tax rose to £5.0m, from £3.1m.
Much of the jump came from one-off contracts. The figures include an exceptional profit of £1,506,000 on a single Building Services contract, partly offset by the costs of closing one business and leaving a property. With such items stripped out, operating profit was flat at £3.8m. Building Services had a strong year, while a very wet winter and the move of two roofing businesses to new premises held back roofing.
The group ended the year with £6.2m in cash after repaying its bank term loan, and had no borrowings. The dividend for the year is 7.5p per share, against 3.5p, much of it a one-off special payment. Management says the order book remains strong and the new year has started in line with expectations. It warns of sharply rising supply costs and of projects being delayed or cancelled. The auditors gave a clean opinion.
Non-recurring/one-off contracts boosting revenue and operating profit in the year
The year's outturn has been significantly impacted by non-recurring contracts which have impacted positively on operating profit but also resulted in a temporary increase in administrative costs
page 4Growth achieved in higher-margin areas plus careful contract selection and execution
Gross margin improved to 25.5% (2025: 24.6%)... resulted from growth achieved in higher-margin areas of the business along with continued careful contract selection and execution
page 2Our forward order book remains robust, and we continue to see a pipeline of opportunities across the Group, supported by the investments we have made in our businesses
page 6Progressive dividend policy subject to Group performance, available cash, working capital requirements, corporate opportunities, debt obligations and macro-economic environment. Proposed final dividend of 2.5p per share plus a special dividend of 5p per share for FY26 (FY25: final 2.5p plus special 1p), subject to shareholder approval at AGM.
page 312 years on one page · FY2015–FY2026
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GBP millions, negatives in brackets. Per-share lines in pence. Share counts in millions. Margins and returns as percentages, calculated from the filed figures. later is what a following report restated the figure to; vs is a second reading that disagrees. The figure shown is the one the original filing printed, and both readings are kept. Click any figure: opens the report page it was read from, highlighted; shows how it was calculated.
Nothing restated
Every figure is read again from the following year’s report: 455 confirmed, 22 differ.
No figure has been restated: every figure a later report printed again, it printed the same.