Pendragon drives up new car sales
MOTORISTS turned a deaf ear to talk of a recession as Britain's largest car dealership, Pendragon, reported a 4% increase in new car registrations for the year to 31 December.
The shares responded with a jump of 8 1/2p to 266p even though chief executive Trevor Finn warned that car sales for the first month of this year had dropped off, part of a year-on-year trend. 'In the short term, we believe that car demand will be adversely affected by consumer uncertainty caused by global uncertainty,' he said.
Full-year profits at the group, which deals in new and used cars, jumped 17% to £35.8m, driven largely by buoyant UK and US car sales thanks to the cheap cost of borrowing. Britons and Americans indulged their tastes for Jaguars, Aston Martins and Land Rovers.
Sales rose from £1.7bn to £1.9bn and the total dividend is raised by 8% to 17.2p a share.
In the UK, the market for new and used cars was helped by 'robust' consumer confidence and the relatively low cost of finance. However, gloomy consumer confidence in Germany continued, widening Pendragon's German operating loss for the year to £1.5m from £600,000 the year before.
Finn saw little improvement in the Jaguar business in Germany and said there were likely to be job cuts there this year. But overall he is confident of the year ahead.
