11:49 am, May 12, 2016
VERTU Motors plc has announced record revenue and profits for the year ended February 29, 2016.
Pre-tax profit at the automotive retailer rose to £26m from £21m – an increase of 24 per cent – on revenue that went up from £2,074.9m to £2,423.3m. The dividend per share went up from 1.05p to 1.30p.
Vertu Motors has a network of 127 sales and aftersales outlets across the UK, and added 16 dealerships – including Audi, Honda, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Land Rover – to its portfolio since March 1, 2015.
It helped drive gross margin, revenue and profit growth across the group, and thanks to continued improvement in aftersales performance, gross margins increased to 44.8 per cent from 43.5 per cent.
The board said it remained confident about the group’s prospects for the current year, adding that it had raised £35m toward future acquisitions.
Vertu Motors chief executive Robert Forrester, pictured above, said: ‘We have delivered significant revenue growth which, together with tight control of costs, has resulted in record profitability. This profitability, combined with strong cash flow, gives the board the confidence to significantly increase the dividend.
‘We are particularly pleased with our aftersales performance. The last three years of strong new car sales, coupled with the group’s success in selling service plans to used car customers, provides the group with good visibility of this recurring high margin income stream.
‘We have added further strength to the operational management team to support future growth and we continue to review a number of further acquisition opportunities.’
He added: ‘Our acquisitions have been integrated quickly and efficiently and are performing encouragingly. March and April have been good months. We see a stabilisation of the new car market at these high levels. The board looks to the future with confidence.’
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