Used car sales boost in Scotland for Pendragon

PENDRAGON, the owner of the Evans Halshaw, Chatfields andStratstone motor dealerships, sold more used cars in Scotland thanthe UK as a whole at the start of the year as cash-strappedconsumers searched forecourts for bargains.

"Used cars sales were 37% higher in Scotland in January comparedwith the same month last year," said Trevor Finn, Pendragon's chiefexecutive. January sales were up 33% in the entire UK, he added.

"Scotland got off to a good start to the year," he told TheHerald.

Mr Finn said the company, which operates more than 300 franchisesacross the UK, normally reduces stocks of used vehicles toward theend of the year but decided not to do that in the final quarter of2010.

"We rolled into the year with a lot of stock and this paid off,"Mr Finn declared, adding that Pendragon sees the used car market inScotland and other parts of Britain as a growth area. He said morepeople were using the internet to find suitable cars.

Britain's largest motor retailer posted underlying pre-tax profitof pound(s)25.2 million for 2010, compared to pound(s)10.1m in 2009,and said it had continued to see a good recovery at its Stratstoneand Evans Halshaw divisions.

The group, which also runs a small number of franchises inCalifornia, pulled in revenues of pound(s)3.6 billion, up frompound(s)3.2bn in the previous year.

Pendragon had been expected to post a pre-tax profit ofpound(s)24.8m for 2010, according to a Thomson Reuters Ibes poll.

"While the group performed well in 2010, what's more pleasing isto see that momentum carried forward into January, and we lookforward to it continuing during 2011," Mr Finn stated.

The company attributed its success to a reduction in costs and anincrease in sales.

Overall, Pendragon sold 101,000 new cars last year, which isroughly 5% of the UK market. Underlying new car sales increased14.5%, ahead of the broader market's 12.9%.

Pendragon, whose Stratstone dealerships sell premium models suchas Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes-Benz, said it would continue toincrease its used vehicle volumes in 2011 through further used carsupermarket start-ups under the Quicks brand. The luxury car marketis recovering as executive salaries rise. Last month, three of thebig German upmarket carmakers - BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi -recorded their best January sales ever, driven in large part bysurging demand from emerging markets but also a strong bounceback inEurope and the United States.

Times have not always been good for the Nottinghamshire-basedgroup. In 2008, at the height of the worst economic slump since theGreat Depression of the 1930s, Pendragon had made 2500 peopleredundant - equivalent to 20% of its workforce - as it faced up tothe impact of the downturn on the car market.