Moorland Motors picked up by Arnold Clark
LANCASHIRE car dealer Moorland Motors has been sold to Scottish group Arnold Clark for an undisclosed sum.
The £18.4m turnover, family-owned business sells Vauxhall, Chevrolet and Suzuki cars from its base on Lytham St Annes Way, Blackpool.
Most recently-filed accounts for 2011 showed the business made a loss of around £278,000 after a £3m fall in sales on the previous year.
Moorland, founded in 1984 by Bill Swire employs around 50 people who will transfer to Arnold Clark.
Moorland Motors was advised on the sale by a team from Lancashire law firm Napthens Solicitors including corporate partner Rob Dobson, and Commercial property advisers partner Martin Long and solicitor Gareth Birch.
Tony Medcalf at accountants Moore and Smalley provided tax and accounting advice to Moorland Motors.
Eddie Hawthorne, managing director of Arnold Clark, said: “We look forward to working with both staff and customers to continue to develop this well run local family business.
“As a family-run business, Arnold Clark shares the same ethos as the Swire family and will continue forward to offer genuine value for money and generating high levels of customer satisfaction.”
Tony Boyd, managing director of Moorland Motors, said “We would like to thank all the Moorland staff for all their hard work and loyalty over the years.
“A combined 350 years of service will transfer to Arnold Clark. Bill Swire opened the business over 20 years ago, and we are delighted we have managed to retain this expertise to provide the best customer experience for our Blackpool and Fylde customer, this will be an exciting new chapter for the team.”
Based in Glasgow, Arnold Clark is one of the largest independent dealership groups in Europe with more than 140 dealerships, 8,000 staff and annual sales of more than £2bn.
