Pendragon transforms to used car sales
Car dealership group Pendragon saw its pre-tax profit fall by 41.4 per cent in the first six months of this year.
It was down from £44.3 million in the first half of 2017 to £24m due to its UK motor division's performance, but sales rose 0.2 per cent to £2.24bn.
Chief executive Trevor Finn said: "We are gaining momentum as we lead the transformation to fully online used car retailing. This will give us greater self-determination and deliver more reliable, sustainable earnings.
"Our industry leading software company gives us unique technology and expertise, to reformat our business model. We are also continuing to re-allocate our capital into higher return areas to increase shareholder value."
Pendragon aims to double used car revenue by 2021 by developing its national network..
It opened three full scale Evans Halshaw car stores in Shrewsbury, Ipswich and Norwich in the six months and opened two used car refurbishment facilities to industrialise the process. It intends to add a further two this year, giving a total annual refurbishment capacity from these facilities of 80,000 vehicles.
Pendragon also has Evans Halshaw sites at Worfield, between Wolverhampton and Bridgnorth, Walsall; West Bromwich, Stourbridge and Wolverhampton.
It also has Stratstone dealerships in Lye and Wolverhampton.
Pendragon has a three-year plan to reduce the capital deployed in its premium brand franchises and has sold four premium brand franchises which has released £26m.
It now has 28 used car only retail sites and 182 franchise sites. In the second half of 2018 it expects to open a further three car store sites..
Visits to Evanshalshaw.com and Stratstone.com were up 6.5 per cent to 27.7 million visitors in the year to June.
