Editor’s Choice

Motor finance is under scrutiny as never before. In March, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it planned to investigate Lookers’ sales processes between the period 1 January 2016 to 13 June 2019. The announcement attracted a huge amount of attention from motor dealers who want to see what the FCA will discover in its investigation and what financial penalties ...

Pendragon was in the red in the first half of 2019 with pre-tax losses of -£32.2m compared to profits of o£ £28.4m in the corresponding period in 2018. Turnover was up 2.9% to £2.46bn on a like-for-like basis and 0.8% overall. Including a non cash £102.4m charge for the reduced value of its business the total first-half loss was £129.6m ...

Rybrook Holdings is making “significant capital investment” in the group. Last year it refurbished its Land Rover dealership in Conwy and purchased of a freehold site in Wolverhampton for use as a central storage compound. In February this year is bought the Land Rover and Jaguar dealerships in Stoke from Pendragon for £3.7m. The sale price, previously undisclosed, was submitted ...

The Trade Centre Group PLC will add a new 1,000 car site in Rochdale to it’s ranks before the end of the year. The site, a former Homebase store on Sandbrook Park, will be the first Trade Centre UK store based on a retail park, and in the North West. The company has also purchased a nearby ex-franchised dealership site to ...

West Midlands based Arbury Group delivered pre-tax profits up 50% to £3m on turnover up 13.2% to £132m in 2018. The group has 11 dealerships, representing Peugeot, Nissan, Skoda, Citroën, Fiat, Abarth and SEAT. During the year it sold 9,300 vehicles. Since Arbury’s beginning in 2000, it has grown from a single Peugeot site to multiple Arbury dealerships located across ...

Lookers non-executive director Tony Bramall continues to build his stake in the dealer group. Through his investment vehicle Guernsey Investments the dealer veteran bought a further £700,000 in shares between 23 and 29 August, bringing his total stake in Lookers to 18.89%. The move follows investment he made earlier this month. Bramall has a history of building dealer groups and ...

As the RDE legislation date approaches, just 7% of dealers feel they have a good understanding of what it is. This leaves 93% of dealers with average or less knowledge of the incoming legislation that will, as of 1 September, require new car engines to be clean under all operating conditions, not just in the lab. These figures come from ...

Lookers non-executive director Tony Bramall is building up his stake in the dealer group buying £2.1m of stock. Guernsey Investments , a company controlled by Bramall, purchased 2,746,414 ordinary shares of 5p each in the group between 14 – 16 August 2019 at an average price of 45.4657p per share. He subsequently bought 1,745,226 ordinary shares between 20- 21 August 2019 ...

TG Holdcroft delivered a third year of record profits and turnover as it confirmed it is in talks with existing and new carmakers to expand the business in 2019. The group, which has outlets across North Staffordshire and Cheshire, said it was “unfortunate” that it had not been able to make further acquisitions in 2018 but it still delivered a ...

  Eastern Holdings, parent of Eastern Western Motor Group, turned in a strong performance in 2018 with pre-tax profits up 8.3% to £10.4m on turnover ahead 15.4% to £699.5m. The company expanded organically and through acquisitions over the year. In July it bought Barnetts Motor Group adding Mazda and Volkswagen franchises in Dundee and Volkswagen in St Andrews for £10.6m, ...