Pendragon accelerates to record profit figures

Pendragon, the Nottingham car retail giant, has posted record underlying profit before tax figures.

The company showed a surplus of £83m last year – up from just £8.2m in 2020 – in what its boss called “a really strong set of results”.

Turnover also rose – up from £2.92bn to almost £3.5bn, a hike of 18%, while the firm cut its debts by a half to just under £50m.

Pendragon says its strong progress was achieved with a strategy to “transform automotive retail through digital innovation and operational excellence” with a host of new initiatives delivered across the group.

Bill Berman, chief executive officer, said: “We have delivered a really strong set of results, with positive contributions from all parts of our business. Late in 2020, we set out our new strategy to transform our operations and adapt to the fast-changing retail environment. Our focus since then has been on creating value through the delivery of this strategy and we are seeing the operational and financial benefits of this hard work in our results today.

“Our sector has experienced a unique set of trading conditions during the period and I am delighted with how we have performed in this environment. We have made the most of the favourable market dynamics to deliver record underlying profits and we have also reported a return to profit for CarStore, our relaunched, used car brand.

“We expect existing supply chain constraints to continue in the current year, and we are mindful of the potential for further disruption to new vehicle supply chains as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. Despite this, we have the right strategy in place and we expect to make positive progress towards our long-term goals this year.”