Lookers buys Scottish Land Rover dealer for £8.75m

LOOKERS, the North West car dealership and parts distribution group, has boosted its Scottish footprint with an £8.75m cash purchase of Land Rover dealer Shields Automotive.

 Shields Automotive operates a significant Land Rover dealership in south Glasgow. Lookers said the overall price for the business would be less as the deal includes a number of freehold properties which will be sold after completion.

The statutory accounts of Shields Automotive for the year ended 30 June 2012 reported profits of £350,000 on revenue of £20.5m. The business had net assets of £6.7m.

Lookers chief executive, Peter Jones, said: “The acquisition is an important development in the group’s representation of the Land Rover brand and strengthens the group’s presence in Scotland, where it operates as Taggarts Motor Group in Glasgow and Motherwell which represents the Land Rover, Jaguar, Volvo, Nissan, Peugeot and Hyundai brands, as well as Lomond Audi in Ayr, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling.

“Shields Automotive is a business for which we have tremendous respect and we are looking forward to welcoming its great team of people to Lookers.”