Vertu Motors sees sales drop

21st Jul 2011 09:51

Vertu Motors, the car retailer which owns the Bristol Street Motors, Vertu Honda and Macklin Motors brands, has seen sales of new cars drop 6.6% on a like-for-like basis.The figure announced in the Chairman's statement at Thursday's annual general meeting is better than the total UK market, which fell by 17.1%, but nevertheless the impact of the end of the government's car scrappage scheme has had a major impact on the company.The group, which operates 80 dealerships, also faces other problems. In particular its outlets which rely on Japanese manufacturers such as Honda and Mitsubishi have seen declining sales in the wake of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March.One bright spot, however, has been the performance of Vertu's after sales service where like-for-like gross margins improved from 40.1% to 43.1%. Thursday's figures were not well received by investors as the share price fell 4.35% in early trading.BS