Co-op raises £31m with Land Rover sale

THE Co-operative Group has boosted its coffers by £31m by selling its remaining car dealership business.

The Manchester-based group is selling its three West Yorkshire-based Land Rover franchises, which trade as Albert Farnell Ltd, to Newcastle-based Vertu Motors.

During the financial year ended December 31 2012, Farnell made operating profits of £3.9m on unaudited revenues of approximately £113m. The newly-acquired business will form a new division within Vertu and Jatinder Aujla, the current operations manager at Farnell, will be appointed to lead it.

Vertu said it would be raising £50m through a share placing to fund the deal.

Chief executive Robert Forrester said: “”We are very pleased to announce the acquisition of Farnell, a dealership group with over 65 years’ history in Yorkshire.

 The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in its first full year, is a high quality business and has a leading franchise in a large market area.”

Mr Forrester added: “The acquisition we announce today already performs at a very high level and reflects our first entry into the exciting British premium marque of Land Rover.”