Lookers offloads dealerships for £2m
MANCHESTER-based car dealer group Lookers has sold three Honda dealerships in Nottingham, Derby and Stockton-on-Tees for a total of £2m.
They have been acquired by Vertu Motors, the automotive retailer with a network of 122 sales and aftersales outlets across the UK.
The Nottingham and Derby outlets have been owned by Lookers for several years and its sales territories are adjacent to its existing Honda outlets in Mansfield and Grantham. The Stockton-On-Tees dealership was formerly owned by the Benfield Group and is located adjacent to the group’s existing Honda outlets in Durham and Sunderland.
For the year ended December 31, the three dealerships achieved unaudited revenues of £39m and a break even trading result.
The Vertu board said expects this acquisition to be earnings enhancing in its first full year of ownership.
A Lookers statement said: “The rationale for the sale is that Vertu already operates Honda dealerships in contiguous territories to the businesses.”
Lookers recently sold one Lexus and two Toyota dealerships to Meridian Motor Group, trading as Vantage, for £12.7m.
In a deal concluded on December 30, the Toyota and Lexus showrooms in Leeds and a Toyota site in Wakefield – all former Benfield sites, which Lookers bought last autumn – went to Meridian.
