11:06 pm, July 29, 2011
DEALER group Inchcape has announced its half year results for the period ending June 30.
Profits before tax amounted to £126.8m, up 10.1 per cent on 2010, and estimated profit per share is 19.6p, up 14 per cent. Operating cash flow totalled £73m.
However, reported sales was £2.9bn, down 5.3 per cent in actual currency and down 6.7 per cent in constant currency.
Two third of trading profit for Inchcape was generated from Asia Pacific and the emerging markets, and a tight control on overheads resulted in costs reduced by 8.6 per cent.
Andre Lacroix, CEO of Inchcape, said: ‘We have delivered a good performance in the first half of the year which is a testament to the strength of Inchcape’s unique business model and differentiated customer 1st strategy.
‘We have benefited from increased consumer demand for premium and luxury vehicles in Russia and the emerging markets and our operational discipline on both commercial and cash initiatives has enabled us to deliver a healthy growth in profit before tax of 10.1 per cent and earnings per share growth of 14 per cent.
‘Our competitive position continues to improve through our strategic commitment to superior customer service and our operational focus on our ‘Top Five Priorities’ of growing market share, growing aftersales, improving margin, controlling working capital and selective capital expenditure investment.
‘While in some of our markets we will continue to experience a temporary supply restriction on new cars as a result of the earthquake in Japan, we believe the Group will deliver a solid performance for 2011, in line with our expectations. We have taken cost actions to offset the supply impact and the Group will continue to benefit from its broad geographic spread, strong portfolio of the world’s leading brands in the premium and luxury segment as well as from its strong aftersales business which represents around 50 per cent of group gross profit.
‘More broadly, we expect the uneven global economic recovery will continue as inflationary pressure and government austerity measures will affect consumer confidence, particularly in the UK and Europe. However, Inchcape is uniquely positioned worldwide as a leading international automotive distributor and retailer with two thirds of our trading profit coming from Asia Pacific and the Emerging Markets.’
