Van rental firm Northgate's first-half profit rises

Dec 2 (Reuters) - Northgate Plc (LSE: NTG.L - news) posted a 49 percent rise in first-half profit, helped by lower maintenance costs and higher demand for the vehicles it rents out.

The company's shares rose more than 6 percent.

Northgate, which rents out light commercial vehicles to engineering, distribution and retail companies, said underlying pretax profit rose to 47.8 million pounds ($75.1 million) in the six months ended Oct. 31 from 32.0 million pounds a year earlier.

Revenue rose 5.6 percent to 305.0 million pounds. ($1 = 0.6368 pounds) (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Robin Paxton)