Redde Northgate PLC on Wednesday reported annual earnings growth and said ‘vehicle supply is improving’, though still short of robust demand.

The Darlington, England-based commercial vehicle hire firm said its pretax profit for its financial year ended April 30 increased by 35% to £178.7 million from £132.7 million.

Revenue increased by 20% to £1.49 billion from £1.24 billion, with the company saying that it was driven by growth in Redde activity from existing and new contracts, and a managed increase in average hire rates.

‘This is an excellent set of results and we are proud of what the group and all our colleagues have achieved this year, delivering record revenue and profits and strong levels of cash generation,’ said Chief Executive Officer Martin Ward.

‘Vehicle supply is improving but remains below the high levels of customer demand; our financial strength provides an ability to react quickly to supply opportunities as they arise.’

Earnings before interest and tax were up 34% to £202.0 million from £150.8 million, and earnings per share increased 46% to 60.3 pence per share from 41.3p the prior year. The company said this was boosted by a strong operational performance and volume growth.

The company declared a final dividend for its year of 16.5 pence per share, up 10% from 15.0p the previous year. Total dividend was up 14% at 24.0 pence per share, from 21.0p year-on-year.

Redde Northgate said that it continued to enjoy robust demand at the start of its current financial year, and that it had a ‘healthy new business pipeline’.

‘With exciting opportunities across the platform, we expect to continue to make strategic progress; together with good momentum in the business we are confident and are well-placed to continue to create long-term value for shareholders,’ said Redde Northgate.

Shares in Redde Northgate were up 0.5% at 380.00 pence in London on Wednesday morning.

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