Lookers eyes record results boosted by spare parts division
CAR dealership Lookers is on course for record half-year results with the recent recession boosting demand for new and used cars, the firm said yesterday.
The Manchester-based company said all its business divisions were currently performing ahead of plan, during the first half of the year despite disruption from January’s snow.
Lookers, which has 5,500 staff and 122 franchised dealerships selling 32 marques including Vauxhall and Ford, said its parts distribution business, which works with 2,500 suppliers through 20 UK sites, had given it a “unique position of strength”.
The division is a “counter cyclical hedge” against conditions in the wider market, Lookers said, with drivers choosing to repair their existing cars instead of trading them in for another vehicle.
Sales volumes of new cars have grown ahead of the 20 per cent increase seen across the wider market while there has also been a “continued recovery” in demand for new corporate cars – giving Lookers a chance to improve its market share further.
“We believe the group will deliver record results for the first half of the year, giving us confidence that we can continue to grow the business and deliver successful results for the full year,” chief executive Peter Jones said.
The consensus analyst pre-tax profits forecast for the year as a whole is now £31.8m – up from the £28.3m seen in 2009. Lookers’ results for the six months ended 30 June are to be announced on 18 August.