Car retailer to axe 1,800 jobs

Pendragon, the Nottingham-based car dealership giant, says it will make 1,800 redundancies and close 15 of its outlets in an effort to cut costs.

The firm, which owns Stratstone, Evans Halshaw, Car Store, Pinewood, Quickco and Pendragon Vehicle Management says the sites it is closing made a combined loss of around £2m last year. Some 400 jobs will be lost at these sites, with a further 1,400 office and support roles set to go.

Bill Berman, chief executive officer, said: “The above proposals reflect our intention to create a resilient, leaner and more profitable business across the entire group. These have been difficult decisions for the Board to make and our priority now is to manage the transition to our new operating model.

“The Covid-19 pandemic is a uniquely challenging situation and we want to protect as many jobs as we can sustainably and the proposed redundancies are, of course, extremely regrettable. During the pandemic we have focused on ways to improve workflow, efficiency and our digital capabilities. It is paramount that we embed these behaviours into all areas of the business, as we expect the economic environment to remain challenging. The actions that we are undertaking are for the long-term health and success of the Group and ensure that we emerge from the pandemic as a more competitive and stronger business with the ability to thrive in the future.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank every one of our employees for the hard work that has been done to reopen our businesses from lockdown. I am proud of the essential work we undertook to assist key workers during lockdown and for the way we have served our customers in store and online during these difficult times.”

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