Bristol Street Motors owner shuts Birmingham operation

MOTOR dealer group Vertu has revealed the closure of one of its car supermarket operations in Birmingham.

The company, which acquired the Bristol Street Motors dealership network in 2006, has shut down the Motor Nation site in Mackadown Lane, Garretts Green as part of a company realignment.

The closure was revealed as Vertu announced its latest set of interims to the London Stock Exchange.

In its results statement, the company said: “The closure of this dealership has freed up the premises to be used as an additional vehicle compound for the group’s growing Ford commercial fleet activities which are adjacent.  

“This closure brings to an end the operation by the group of non-franchised used car operations under the Motor Nation brand and allows the group to concentrate on its core activity of operating franchised dealerships.”

In July of this year, the group closed the operations of an accident repair centre in Birmingham to allow capacity to be increased for retail vehicle sales operations at the central Birmingham location.  

Vertu has not said if the closure has resulted in any job losses.

The decision to focus on the fleet sector comes after new figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed like-for-like fleet sales growing by 12.4% in the six month period to August 31, compared to overall market growth of 9.4%.

New commercial van volumes grew by 28.6% compared to market growth of 13.6% over the same period. The company said as the UK economy continued to recover so demand for new vans was likely to follow.

“This remains an attractive area of business and one where the group has scale and expertise,” it said.

“As manufacturers have refined their approach to this low margin segment, the group has maximised its ability to generate profitability and grow business in this area.  Substantial market share has been gained in recent periods and the group remains committed to fleet supply and continues to invest in capacity.  Dealerships are increasingly employing dedicated local business specialists to provide additional sales and aftersales opportunities to dealerships.”

Vertu Motors is the UK’s sixth largest vehicle dealership group, with a network of 111 sales and aftersales outlets across the UK.

Its results for the six months ended August 31, 2014, show revenues increased by 29.5% to £1,083.9m (2013 H1: £837.2m) with pre-tax profit rising 48.8% to £12.8m (2013 H1: £8.6m).