30th Jul 2015 07:23
LONDON (Alliance News) - Car distributor and retailer Inchcape PLC on Thursday said its pretax profit fell in the first half of 2015, thanks to adverse currency movements and higher costs, but shares in the group were trading higher as it said its underlying like-for-like revenue growth was robust in the period.
FTSE 250-listed Inchcape said its pretax profit in the first half fell to GBP153 million from GBP162.1 million a year earlier, despite revenue rising to GBP3.4 billion from GBP3.3 billion on a reported basis. Like-for-like revenue at constant currencies, however, rose by 7.8% in the half and the group's underlying operating profit was up by 5.6%, compared to a 5.2% decline on a reported basis.
Inchcape said it saw broad-based growth across its portfolio in the first half, driven by high-margin aftersales revenue and new car growth.
It said it will pay an interim dividend of 6.8 pence per share, up from 6.3 pence per share a year earlier.
"The group has continued to grow both revenue and underlying profit in the first half of 2015, driven by our strong portfolio of high quality Distribution and Retail businesses in some of the most attractive segments of a global growth industry," said Chief Executive Stefan Bomhard.
"While we have experienced challenges in some of our markets in the first half of the year, the proven resilience of our unique business model with its broad global spread, together with our operational rigour, continues to drive overall growth and attractive returns for our stakeholders. We continue to expect the group to deliver a robust underlying constant currency performance in 2015," Bomhard added.
Inchcape shares were trading up 4.5% in early trade to 786.00 pence, one of the best performers in the FTSE 250.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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