LONDON (Alliance News) - Cambria Automobiles PLC Tuesday reported growth in profit in the first half of its financial year, boosted by a strong sales performance in each of its categories, and said it expects earnings enhancements to continue.
The motor retailer said pretax profit grew by more than half to GBP3.3 million in the six months to February 28, from GBP2 million in the same period the year before, as revenue increased by 19% to GBP242.8 million from GBP204.8 million.
The sales performance was driven by a strong increase in new vehicle sales at 15.6%, well ahead of overall UK market growth of 8.2%, Cambria said. Used vehicle sales were up 2.9%, it said, with an 8.2% improvement in profit per unit, and after-sales revenue increased by 6.2%, with gross profit improvement of 6.9%.
Following the period end, Cambria acquired its second Land Rover dealership, which the company expects to immediately enhance earnings, and trading in the key plate-change month of March was "ahead of plan", it said.
"The board continues to focus on opportunities to strengthen the group's position in luxury and premium brands and is actively pursuing acquisition opportunities which have the potential to fulfil these ambitions," Chief Executive Mark Lavery said in a statement.
"The group's performance in the all-important month of March was both ahead of our business plan and the previous year. The board is confident that Cambria will maintain this momentum and continue to deliver an improved performance across all of its activities," he added.
Cambria will pay an interim dividend of 0.15 pence, a 50% increase from 0.1p the year before.
Shares in Cambria were trading up 3.3% at 59.39 pence Tuesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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