Pendragon turned in a strong third quarter with increased gross profits across new and used cars and aftersales.
The performance in used cars was particularly strong with like for like gross profit up by 15.2% in the three months to 30 September.
Used cars benefited from its click and collect scheme where customers can visit Pendragon websites, choose from a stock of 20,000 used vehicles and collect a car from any one of 200 UK locations.
Notably, traffic to the group’s Evans Halshaw and Stratstone websites surged 36% in the nine months to 30 September.
Aftersales continues to be the group’s largest profit centre and gross profit grew by 3.8% in the period on a like for like basis. The outlook for aftersales is positive with increased new car sales in recent years now filtering through as used cars. Pendragon expects the sub-three-year-old car parc to grow by 7% and the four-to-six year-old car parc to grow by 2% in 2015.
New car gross profit, its third largest contributor to profitability, grew by 5.3% in the period on a like for like basis. Pendragon has upgraded its full year new car registration forecast to 2.6 million, which it now believes its natural level. Previously it had forecast registrations between 2.5 million and 2.6 million units.
“We continue to go from strength to strength after another strong quarter across our key sectors of aftersales, used and new.
“The performance of the group is in line with expectations for the full year, which were upgraded in August,” said Pendragon chief executive Trevor Finn.
Analyst with Zeus capital Mike Allen said Pendragon had maintained “strong growth momentum” and highlighted the used cars result as the “stand out” performance.
