4th Mar 2019 11:45
LONDON (Alliance News) - Marshall Motor Holdings PLC said Monday it bought six further Skoda franchised dealerships for a combined GBP3.5 million, making it the largest retailer of the Czech car brand in the UK.
In late January, Marshall bought the Leicester and Nottingham Skoda dealerships from Sandicliffe Ltd. In late February, the firm then bought the Bedford, Harlow, Letchworth and Northampton dealerships from Progress Bedford Ltd.
All acquisitions were completed with the support of Skoda UK. Marshall now operates 11 Skoda dealerships in the UK.
In 2018, the combined dealerships generated GBP400,000 in pretax losses. Consequently, Marshall expects the deals to initially reduce earnings in the current financial year before becoming " earnings enhancing" in future years.
For the six months ended June 2018, Marshall Motor generated GBP17.2 million in pretax profit on revenue of GBP1.16 billion.
"These acquisitions are an exciting milestone for Marshall in which we become Skoda's largest UK retailer by adding six further sites in excellent locations which are contiguous to our existing Skoda sites," Marshall Chief Executive Officer Daksh Gupta said. "The acquired businesses have good potential for growth and improvement in their operating performance as part of a scaled and focused division."
"We believe it is the right time to grow our portfolio with Skoda and these acquisitions demonstrate our commitment to our stated strategy to grow with existing brand partners in new geographic territories," Gupta added. "We are very proud to represent the Skoda brand and wish to thank the Skoda UK management team for their support over the years and we look forward to building on our excellent relationship."
Shares in Marshall were 0.6% higher at 159.00 pence on Monday.
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