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Inchcape is reducing its cost base by £25m and making an exceptional £18m restructuring charge in the final quarter of 2010.
The firm said it was acting to counter the “challenging outlook” in 2011 for new car demand in the UK, Greece, Belgium and Singapore.
“We plan to reduce our cost base by £25m and to take an exceptional restructuring charge of £18m in the fourth quarter.
“We are proactively reducing our headcount by 500 and plan to dispose of 10 sites while keeping tight cost controls in place throughout the Group,” it added. Inchcape said it had turned in a better than expected performance in Q3, 2010.
Total revenues for the nine months to September 2010 were up 7.6 per cent year-on-year in actual currency and 4.2 per cent in constant currency.
Like for like revenues were up 8.6 per cent year-on-year in actual currency and up 5.2 per cent in constant currency.
The group said as expected it had witnessed a slowdown in new car registrations in the UK following expiration of the scrappage scheme.
“The group’s UK business performed slightly better than expected in the third quarter as we benefited from market share gains from luxury brands in a market where the underlying demand excluding the impact of scrappage was up by 14 per cent.
“Our used car business delivered a solid third quarter with good revenue growth and robust margins while our aftersales business remains strong.”