Stratstone

Stratstone is Pendragon's prestige motor car retail business with 94 franchise points. Stratstone holds franchises to retail and service Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lotus, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Porsche and Smart as well as four motorcycle franchises.

Revenues were up by 13.6% year on year on a like for like basis owing to strong growth both in used and new volume.

Like for like gross profit increased by 3.6% in the period owing to increases in used and new activity. Aftersales has been impacted by a reduction in warranty work. However, like for like retail sales are up by 1.2%, which Pendragon believes is an "encouraging performance".

Used volume increased by 24.6% on a like for like basis in Stratstone, with used retail gross profit increasing by 0.8% on a like for like basis.

Stratstone like for like retail sales (excluding Motability) increased by 19.9% and like for like fleet sales increased by 14.3%. Overall, new gross profit increased by 19.4% on a like for like basis owing to strong performance from the Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche franchises largely attributable to new product roll-out. However, overall gross profit per unit across all brands in Stratstone fell from £2,107 to £1,844 year-on-year.

Evans Halshaw

Evans Halshaw is Pendragon's volume motor car retailer, with 125 franchise points. Evans Halshaw holds franchises to sell and service Chevrolet, Citroen, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault and Vauxhall.

Revenues were up by 5.6% year on year on a like for like basis owing to strong growth in both new and used volume.

Like for like gross profit increased by 2.0% in the period owing to increases in used and new activity.

Similar to Stratstone, Evans Halshaw aftersales have been impacted by a reduction in warranty work with like for like retail sales behind last year by 1.0%. Used volume increased by 3.4% on a like for like basis following strong compounding growth in the prior year, with used retail gross profit increasing by 8.1%.

Evans Halshaw like for like retail sales (excluding Motability) increased by 12.1% and like for like fleet sales increased by 63.4%. Overall, new gross profit increased by 10.0% on a like for like basis in the period helped in particular by stronger performance from the Vauxhall and Ford franchises.

The division underlying earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) go backwards year-on-year to £12.7m from £14.4m with operating margins slipping to 1.3%.

Gross profit per unit stayed relatively flat at £761 from £764 last year. Absorbed within Evans Halshaw were £2.7m of losses derived from the Quicks business (internet focused used car business), which increased from losses of £1.5m generated last year.

Chatfields

Chatfields is Pendragon's commercial vans and trucks business with eight franchise points.

Chatfields holds franchises to retail and/or service Ford, DAF, Nissan and Renault. The division maintained EBIT of £1.1m during the period, with revenues up by 34.6% and operating margins slipping to 2.3%. Gross profit per unit fell from £1,396 to £1,282.

New retail units increased by 82.9% on a like for like basis which is an encouraging indicator of recovery from the economic recession.

Overall, like for like gross profit increased by 1.3% which was largely as result of new activity. Encouragingly, used volume increased by 9.7% on a like for like basis as a further indicator of recovery within this sector.

California

Pendragon's California business consists of nine franchise points in Southern California which operate Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover brands. Revenue increased by 0.9% on a like for like basis over the prior year. Gross profit increased by 2.3% on a like for like basis as result of used and aftersales improvements.