H1 profits motor ahead at Lookers

14th Aug 2013 08:07

A continuing recovery in the UK new car market has helped car dealer Lookers drive higher first half profit and revenue.Lookers said the buoyant UK market for new motors and a recovery in its parts division gave it confidence that it could continue to expand the business, improve full year results against last year and increase dividends.The group increased revenue in the six months to June 30th by 20.3% to £1.24bn and adjusted pre-tax profit to £28.8m from £24.1m a year ago.It increased its interim dividend by a tenth to 0.88p per share.Lookers said its motor division had achieved a record performance, with new retail car volume growth ahead of the market, while there had been further strong growth in used car volumes and margins.Chief Executive Peter Jones said: "We are very pleased to report that Lookers has achieved another record trading performance and that the group has delivered four and a half successive years of profit improvement."PW