Pendragon drives profits to £15.7m
CAR giant Pendragon, which operates dealerships across the region, has unveiled significantly improved interim profits.
The company behind the Chatfields, Stratstone and Evans Halshaws brands, reported underlying pre-tax profits for the six months to June 30 rose to £15.7m, up from £10.6m in the corresponding period last year.
Group revenue, boosted by strong performances in the aftersales and used car operations, climbed from £1,586.4m this time last year to £1,833m.
Trevor Finn, chief executive, said he was pleased with the improvement and the group continued to benefit from business initiatives and a recovery in the market.
“The group has a core business well positioned to move forward. In particular, we continue to see growth opportunities from our aftersales and used car operations, the most profitable parts of our business, and are reassured by their strong performance during the period.
“Assuming economic and market conditions remain stable, Pendragon is well placed to build on its strong start to 2010,” he said.
Overall, the business achieved an operating profit of £39m, up from £33.4m last year with adjusted earnings per share of 1.6p for the period compared to 0.9p in 2009.
Management said it was focused on conserving cash and reducing borrowings, therefore no interim dividend was proposed.
The group said the financial results reflected the success it had had in reducing costs, driving operating efficiencies and improving its balance sheet, as well as the recovery in the market. This has led to an increase of 48.1% in underlying profit with strong recovery in both Stratstone and the Evans Halshaw divisions.
Aftersales remained the most profitable area for the group, with gross profits in the UK increasing by 0.6% on a like for like basis over the prior period. This is a further acceleration of the increase achieved between the second half of 2008 and the second half of 2009.
Despite a fall in prices in the UK used car market, the group said it had outperformed the competition with first half volumes increasing by 15.9% over the same period last year.
