Gross profit per unit has continued to improve year on year at Cambria Automobiles, the AM100 car dealer group reports in a trading update to the stock market.

Cambria will announce its interim results for the six months ended 29 February 2016 on May 10. However its update states that in the first five months of its financial year new vehicle unit sales were up 3.8% (like-for-like down 1.2%) and used vehicle sales also rose by 4.3% (like-for-like 2.3%) against the same period in the prior year. 

Gross profit per unit continued to increase and this performance further enhances the profit derived from the used car segment of the business, it said. 

Cambria’s aftersales operations improved profitability by 4.1% year-on-year (like-for like flat).

It added that the Swindon Land Rover business that was acquired on April 30 last year has continued to perform in line with expectations and the its Welwyn Garden City Land Rover dealership, which was acquired on January 8 this year, is integrating to plan. This business, which is the group’s third Land Rover dealership, will be earnings enhancing in the second half of the 2015/16 financial year, Cambria said.

“After the first week of the important March trading period, the new car order book is building well and the board expects the group to deliver another strong trading performance in this crucial month.  The board continues to look to the future with confidence,” concluded its statement.

Zeus Capital Research, Cambria’s joint broker, has forecast a half year  adjusted profit before tax of £4.2m, against £3.3m in H1 last year. “We remain happy with our current underlying assumptions and leave our forecasts unchanged. We continue to believe the current strength of the balance sheet creates potential for the group to engage in further acquisition activity to supplement organic growth in 2016,” said its analyst Mike Allen.