Car dealer enjoys strong start to the year
Car dealership firm Lookers said it has enjoyed strong trading in the last quarter.
The Manchester company said it enjoyed a strong set of results in March – the most important month of the year for the car trade.
The company said in a trading update that new cars represented 32% of gross profit for the group.
Total new car registrations in the UK fell by 2.4% to 701,036 cars in the first quarter; current industry forecasts by The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) for the current year are now at 2.3m.
Whilst this is a reduction of 2.3% compared to last year, it remains at a relatively high level of registrations compared to historic levels.
Turnover of new cars increased by 3%, ahead of the total market reduction and total gross profit from new cars increased by 4% with a modest increase in profit per unit.
The used car market continues to be buoyant and values of used cars remained stable in the period.
Used cars contributed to 25% of total gross profit.
The firm said it had delivered a positive performance over the first quarter with continued strong momentum in both our used car and aftersales businesses.
A statement said: “We have a strong balance sheet, giving us the capacity to consider selective strategic acquisition opportunities and to continue to invest in upgrading our facilities and enhance our multichannel customer capabilities.
“The financial performance of the group in the period demonstrates the effectiveness of our strategy of having the right brands in the right locations and the trading performance since March has been satisfactory in the light of current trading conditions.”
