Car dealer group Inchcape has announced its results, reporting a fifth consecutive year of double-digit earnings growth.

 

Key Financial Highlights 

	Year ended ?2014 ?£m	Year ended ?2013 ?£m	% change	% change  ?in constant  ?currency
Sales	2,472.8	2,224.3	11.2	11.2
Distribution	51.4	41.3	24.5	24.5
Retail	2,421.4	2,183.0	10.9	10.9
Like for like sales	2,394.3	2,121.0	12.9	12.9
Distribution	51.4	41.3	24.5	24.5
Retail	2,342.9	2,079.7	12.7	12.7
Trading profit	65.2	63.3	3.0	3.0
Distribution	10.4	8.6	20.9	20.9
Retail	54.8	54.7	0.2	0.2
Trading margin %	2.6	2.8	(0.2)ppt	(0.2)ppt
Distribution %	20.2	20.8	(0.6)ppt	(0.6)ppt
Retail %	2.3	2.5	(0.2)ppt	(0.2)ppt

 

Group chief executive of Inchcape plc André Lacroix said: “Inchcape’s strategic partnerships with the world’s leading premium and luxury brands and differentiated customer-first strategy have enabled us to seize the exciting growth opportunities in the global automotive industry and to outperform through leveraging unique local drivers in a number of our important markets.

“The acceleration of like for like sales momentum in 2014 has delivered a fifth consecutive year of double-digit earnings growth and a step-up in cash generation through our consistent operational discipline on costs and cash.

“The group’s commitment to delivering value creation for our stakeholders is built on a foundation of disciplined capital allocation. We have invested in developing a strong digital presence, world-class IT infrastructure and state-of-the-art retail centres to support our organic growth. Inchcape’s robust cash generation has enabled a further £181.5million to be returned to our shareholders in 2014 through dividends and share buy backs.

“The group has a track record of delivering sustainable earnings growth with a high return on capital employed and we believe our distinctive strength across primarily small and medium size markets in both vehicle sales and aftersales will continue to drive consistent returns for our shareholders.

“We have good visibility across our markets and categories and, notwithstanding an uncertain geopolitical environment in some of our markets, we expect to deliver a robust underlying constant currency performance in 2015.”

The group expects solid fundamentals of the UK economy, coupled with factors unique to the automotive market, such as PCP financing, to support further industry growth in 2015.