Pendragon Plc (LON:PDG) , the motor retail group, today reported that aftersales profitability had risen by 3.9% in the first three months of the year, with sales of used cars up by 14% and margins up 12%.
In a market update, the company – which owns the Stratstone, Evans Halshaw and Chatfields outlets – said it thought that used car margins would remain stable and that used car volumes would to grow during the rest of the year. Excluding scrappage, new retail car sales were up 4.3%, outperforming the market, which fell 1.5%, excluding scrappage, during the first quarter.
Pendragon said that sales of premium cars were continuing to demonstrate the "V" shaped recovery profile. On that basis, it said it was “cautiously optimistic” about the prospects for 2010 and expected profitability to be in line with expectations. The company’s shares were trading up by more than 4% at 31.75p on the news.
Separately today, Pendragon’s chairman Sir Nigel Rudd said he had finally taken the decision to step down from the company later this year. Sir Nigel took up his role 20 years ago when Pendragon was demerged from Williams Holdings plc. Plans for him to step down had been scuppered in recent years because of financial turmoil and challenging trading conditions. However, today he said that the trading position of the company had improved to such an extent that now was an appropriate time for him to hand over the reigns.
Filed Under: Automotive Retailers,
but do you know where to look?
Get the most concise synopsis of everything that's been proven to work in value investing. If you like your stocks cheap you've found a treasure trove distilled to under 70 pages.
- How to find ultimate Bargain Stocks with Ben Graham
- How to spot Turnarounds and avoid Value Traps
- From Graham to Greenblatt via Piotroski & Lakonishok
- How to value stocks and set a margin of safety
Disclaimer:
As per our Terms of Use, Stockopedia is a financial news & data site, discussion forum and content aggregator. Our site should be used for educational & informational purposes only. We do not provide investment advice, recommendations or views as to whether an investment or strategy is suited to the investment needs of a specific individual. You should make your own decisions and seek independent professional advice before doing so. Remember: Shares can go down as well as up. Past performance is not a guide to future performance & investors may not get back the amount invested.
Pendragon PLC is an automotive retailer with 235 worldwide franchise points. It operates in seven segments: Stratstone, which is a prestige motor car retailer with 98 franchise points, including Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lotus, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, MINI, Morgan, Porsche and Smart as well as five motorcycle franchises; Evans Halshaw, which is a motor car retailer with 133 franchise points, including Chevrolet, Citroen, Dacia, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault and Vauxhall; Quicks Used car retailer with seven points in the United Kingdom; California, which is a prestige brands of Aston Martin, Land Rover and Jaguar with nine franchise points in Southern California; Leasing, which is a fleet leasing and contract hire solutions in the United Kingdom; Quickco, which has independent parts wholesale business, and Pinewood, which is a in-house software company that supplies dealer management systems. more »
