9:22 am, August 15, 2013
LOOKERS, the automotive retail and distribution group, has reported a half-year increase in revenue and profits, with a high performance in new and used vehicles sales.
Interim revenues for the first six months rose 20.3 per cent to £1.24bn in comparison to the same time last year at £1.03bn, pushing pre-tax profits up 19.5 per cent to £28.8m.
Meanwhile, gross profit per unit on new retail cars increased by 6.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent on new fleet cars. Used car volumes also saw an increase of 22 per cent and gross profit per unit up by 6.4 per cent.
Following these record-trading figures, the group has also announced the departure of chief executive, Peter Jones who is set to retire from his position in December.
Jones, who has led the company since October 2009, will be replaced by Lookers’ current chief operating officer, Andy Bruce, while Nigel McMinn will join from Benfield Motor Group to become the managing director of Lookers’ motor division, where he will manage 126 franchised dealerships.
Jones said: ‘We are very pleased to report that Lookers has achieved another record trading performance and that the group has delivered four and a half successive years of profit improvement.’
Lookers’ chairman, Phil White, added: ‘Peter has been an outstanding chief executive of the group. He has led the company during a period where the profitability and market capitalisation of the company have increased significantly with consecutive record results from 2009 to the present day.’
