Pentagon is poised to close its Fiat and Peugeot joint franchise dealership in Keighley after efforts to sell the business “fell through”.

The Derbyshire-based retail group, which was acquired by South Africa-based Imperial Holdings' Motus Corporation for the sum of £28.5m last August, said that the “regretful” decision to close the Worth Way facility would result on its closure on March 29.

Pentagon said in a statement that the Peugeot side of the business would not be allowed to trade beyond that date, adding that an agreement with Fiat to terminate that franchise on the same date was being sought as a result.

The group said that it was now making efforts to minimise redundancies by “exploring opportunities for team members to move to other jobs within the group”.

It added: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the team members in Keighley for their hard work and commitment to their customers over the past five years.”

Fiat customers will in future have to travel to Pentagon Huddersfield while Peugeot owners can visit dealerships in Bradford or Menston.

Quoted in the Keighley News, Pentagon managing director David Lewis said the company had held discussions with both Peugeot and Fiat in recent months concerning the dealership’s financial performance.

Peugeot had then applied a termination notice on the Peugeot franchise.

Lewis said: “As a recent enquiry to sell the business to an interested third party has fallen through, we have arrived at the position where closure is the only option.

“Pentagon has invested heavily in supporting the business performance since taking over dealership in Keighley in 2013.

“However, whilst many improvements have been made the past three years have resulted in excessive financial losses.”

In a follow-up announcement, Pentagon director James Reeve said the Keighley dealership was closing with full support and approval of Peugeot and Fiat.