15th Mar 2016 07:54
LONDON (Alliance News) - Car distributor Inchcape PLC on Tuesday said its pretax profit and revenue both edged up in 2015, driven by a robust performance in its emerging markets business.
The FTSE 250-listed company said pretax profit rose 2.7% to GBP262.6 million from GBP255.8 million a year earlier, as revenue inched up to GBP6.8 billion from GBP6.7 billion.
Inchcape said its emerging markets segment performed well over the course of the year, along with new-vehicle volumes in Australia and growth in high-margin aftersales business. The group did, however, book a one-off charge on its business in Russia, where economic sanctions on the country have hit its business.
Inchcape will pay a final dividend of 14.1 pence per share, up from 13.8p a year earlier, taking its total dividend to 20.9p, a 4.0% rise on its 20.1p payout in 2014.
"The group has converted robust revenue and profit growth in 2015 into strong cash generation, supporting our ability to invest in our brand representation and enabling us to sustain long term advantage versus our competitors," said Inchcape Chief Executive Stefan Bomhard.
"The global economy faces greater uncertainty looking forward, but Inchcape is well positioned - with supportive drivers at the local level across our diversified portfolio of markets and revenue streams. We expect to deliver a solid constant currency performance in 2016," Bomhard added.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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