8:33 am, May 1, 2014
LEADING dealer group Pendragon has announced it expects its 2014 underlying profits to ‘be comfortably ahead of expectations’.
In an interim management statement for the period January 1, 2014 to April 29, 2014, it was revealed that used car gross profitability improved by 19 per cent like-for-like – contributing to nearly half of the gross profit of the group – and aftersales gross profitability had increased by six per cent like-for-like.
Profits grew by 12 per cent, operating profit rose 31 per cent and visitors to Pendragon’s portfolio of websites – Stratstone, Evans Halshaw and Quicks – increased by 16.4 per cent.
Chief executive Trevor Finn (pictured) said: ‘The key areas of our business are performing ahead of expectations in the first quarter of 2014.
‘Our profits have again grown in our used and new vehicle and aftersales departments. An improvement in operating leverage boosted the bottom line.
‘The highlight of the quarter is our market leading internet position in the used vehicle sector, as we achieved a 19th successive quarter of growth in used volume, coupled with an increase in margin.
‘We therefore expect our 2014 underlying profit to be comfortably ahead of expectations for 2014.’
