13th May 2015 07:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - Vertu Motors PLC Wednesday reported a record profit in its recently ended financial year as sales grew in each of its divisions and it increased the number of customers on its service plans, and said current trading is ahead of its financial plan.
Vertu said it will pay a total dividend of 1.05 pence per share, up 31% from the 0.80p paid the year before, reflecting its confidence in the sustainability of the group's profit growth and cash generation.
The automotive retailer said pretax profit for the year ended February 28 grew 33% to GBP21 million from GBP15.8 million the year before, as revenue rose 23% to GBP2.1 billion from GBP1.7 billion. Both profit and revenue were record highs for the company, it said.
Vertu said its like-for-like used vehicle volumes rose 9.2%, while higher margin service like-for-like sales grew 3.5%, and like-for-like new retail sales volumes rose 6.4% as the UK new car market continued to expand.
It said it had higher customer retention rates with over 71,000 customers on group service plans, up from 55,397 the year before.
The company opened ten new outlets in the year, taking the total to 116, and has acquired or opened a further 14 since the year-end.
Trading in March and April of 2015 was ahead of its current year financial plan, and significantly ahead of prior year levels, Vertu said, adding that March was the highest UK registrations month for new cars in this century.
Like-for-like new retail sales volumes in March and April were up 4.3%, while used retail like-for-like volumes are up 6.2% with lower margins being more than offset by volume growth. Overall after-sales performance also has been strong, with higher revenue and margins in service, accident repair centres and parts, and with group service like-for-like revenue growing 7.2% in March and April.
"The group is delivering a strong trading performance driven through its successful acquisition growth strategy and improvements in its underlying organic performance. Many businesses within the dealership portfolio in the group have the potential to achieve enhanced margins," Chief Executive Robert Forrester said in a statement.
"We have substantial funds and financial capacity for further expansion and continue to see attractive acquisition opportunities," he added.
Shares in Vertu are trading up 2.2% at 58.74 pence Wednesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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