1:26 pm, August 1, 2017
ONLINE automotive retailer Pendragon has posted a total rise in profit to £301.1m for the first six months of 2017 – an increase of 4.5 per cent.
In its latest results, released today, it said that underlying pre-tax profit was up by 9.7 per cent to £48.5m while underlying operating profit had increased by 2.2 per cent to £60m. Its like-for-like gross profit has gone up by 4.6 per cent to £295.7m.
Used vehicle revenue has shot up by 20.9 per cent on a like-for-like basis, while like-for-like aftersales revenue rose by six per cent.
New vehicle revenue, however, fell by 4.3 per cent on a like-for-like basis, which it attributed to reductions in the UK market, while the UK retail market fell by 5.1 per cent for the brands it represents. As a result, like-for-like gross profit dropped by 5.2 per cent to £4.6m here.
Chief executive Trevor Finn, pictured, said: ‘Pendragon has had a strong first half. We are particularly pleased with our used revenue growth, after setting our objective at the end of 2016 to achieve at least double-digit growth in used revenue in 2017 and our aspiration over five years to double our used vehicle revenue.
‘During the second half we will make further adjustments to our pricing to maintain our new higher level of volume and enrich the margin. The used vehicle volumes will be driven by capacity being installed as part of our used vehicle strategy.
‘While we have seen some of the expected decline in new vehicle gross profit, this has been more than offset by higher activity in the aftersales sector, which provides our greatest share of gross profit and margin.’
He added: ”Our future growth is focused on increasing profitability of used vehicles and aftersales within the UK and US motor businesses, geographical expansion in the US motor and software businesses and further growth in our leasing businesses.
‘While we are expecting harder comparatives in the second half we still anticipate our performance for 2017 will be in line with expectations as we enhance our profitability streams further.’
Pendragon has more than 220 sites across the UK and US, with its motor businesses branded Evans Halshaw and Stratstone in the UK. Their websites generated 26 million visits for the 12 months to June 2017. Visits rose by 27.7 per cent in the first half of this year.
It has opened four sites in the UK during the first half of 2017 and said it was looking to open another five during the second half.
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