7:15 am, May 21, 2013
VERTU Motors has announced it is to acquire the dealer group Albert Farnell Limited for £31m from Co-operative Group Motors Limited.
Farnell has three Land Rover dealerships in west Yorkshire, and the acquisition marks Vertu’s first entrance into selling the premium British marque.
In the year ended December 31, 2012, Farnell recorded revenues of £113m and operating profits of £3.9m.
Vertu says Farnell will form a new division within its business and Jatinder Aujla, the current operations manager at Farnell, will be appointed to head that division.
In further announcements, Vertu revealed it is raising £50m before expenses; group revenue is up 15.7 per cent to £1.3bn, with like-for-like revenues up six per cent, in its year-end results; and that, in the year to February 28, the dealer group delivered almost 95,000 new and used vehicles.
Vertu chief executive, Robert Forrester (pictured), said: ‘We are very pleased to announce the acquisition of Farnell, a dealership group with over 65 years’ history in Yorkshire.
‘The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in its first full year, is a high quality business and has a leading franchise in a large market area. We welcome Jatinder Aujla, the current head of Farnell, and his colleagues to the group, and I am particularly pleased that Jatinder will head the newly established division and report to me.’
Forrester added: ‘Since Vertu was established in 2006, our strategy has been to build a highly respected UK automotive retail group by leveraging our scalable business model to acquire dealerships with high potential for operating improvement over a four-year- period under Vertu’s ownership. We have grown the business to 96 sites at the end of February 2013, partnering with many leading motor manufacturers, selling close to 95,000 vehicles a year.
‘The acquisition we announce today already performs at a very high level and reflects our first entry into the exciting British premium marque of Land Rover.’
