3:03 pm, June 5, 2011
VERTU Motors is building up a cash pile and management team to lead an ambitious expansion plan this year.
The group – led by chief executive Robert Forrester – has been courting investors and is ready to pounce on a number of targets this year.
Vertu has made it clear that 2011 will be the one the firm – which runs 87 franchises under the Bristol Street Motors, Macklin Motors and Vertu Motors names – will add significantly to its portfolio.
Only this week Forrester revealed Vertu had completed the acquisition of a Mazda franchise in Bristol and, speaking exclusively to Car Dealer, the chief executive said they’ll be many more to follow.
‘We have significant bank funds available that we have not drawn down and we have stated to share holders that we will be on the acquisition trail this year,’ said Forrester.
‘We have a strong management team and a strategy for growth this year. We can’t gurantee that any acquisitions will be made but we are working on a number of them and we are very ambitious.
‘We’re very pleased with the Mazda site in Bristol and on July 1 we will open Nissan Glasgow and Peterhead Hyundai – we’ve enough on our plate at the moment. But we have got the capacity to do more and we will be looking to acquire more sites this year.’
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Vertu – currently the UK’s eighth largest motor retailer – holds franchises for Citroen, Ford, Iveco, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Peugeot, Renault, Vauxhall, Chevrolet, Fiat, SEAT and Alfa Romeo.
Mike Jones, executive chairman of ASE and a Car Dealer columnist, said: ‘I believe it is certainly the aim of the senior management team to grow the size of the business significantly and this is likely to be through a combination of small acquisitions with the potential of large deals.
‘Vertu has built a very strong senior management team which is ready to further expand the company. They have also proved that they can integrate acquisitions into their business model. I would view this as all pointing towards significant growth for this business over the next couple of years.’
