H.R. Owen has sold the assets and business of its Porsche site at Hatfield and a satellite service centre in North London to Porsche Retail Group in a deal worth £3.5m.

The dealer group has also granted Porsche Retail a short term lease of its Hatfield and North London premises.

H.R. Owen Porsche made a pre-tax profit of £1.28m in the year to December 2002 on turnover of £33m.

Nick Lancaster, H R Owen chief executive, says: “The Porsche franchise has formed partof the Group's sports car division, which also represents Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Lotus and Noble. Due to the review of the Block Exemption, a number of vehicle manufacturers have reorganised their franchising, and it is as a result of such a reorganisation that we have been obliged to relinquish our Porsche franchise.

“Although we regret losing such a prestigious brand, we have, overall, been the net beneficiary of additional specialist businesses following similar reorganisations by other manufacturers.”