Luxury retail specialist HR
Owen announced that it made pre-tax profits of £2.8m for the
year ended December 31 2007, up from £0.7m in the year-ago
period.
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Revenue swelled from £159m at the end of 2006 to £184m, up 15
per cent.
Chief executive Nick Lancaster said: “”2007 was an excellent
year for the business, helped by a strong market for its specialist
brands in London and Manchester, coupled with a number of important
new model introductions.
“The group’s specialist brands produced outstanding profits.
However, the results were adversely affected by the difficulties
experienced in the middle market for the group’s volume brands
where the BMW/MINI and Volvo franchises made losses and the Alfa
Romeo franchise made a loss in its first full year of
operation.”
HR Owen bought Inchcape’s St Albans-based Ferrari and Maserati
franchises for £327,000, and disposed of two London-based BMW/MINI
dealerships and aftersales franchises for £5m.
“National market conditions for new and used cars have tightened
considerably in the first quarter of 2008 and the effects of the
credit crunch have adversely affected customers’ buying
decisions.
“Some signs are emerging that credit is difficult to obtain for
customers in certain sectors of the market. Despite this, our new
car sales have started strongly, assisted by forward orders for
many of our brands,” Lancaster said.
However, he asserted: “The group is now in excellent shape.
There is a strong market for our collection of luxury brands, and
all have excellent model ranges and a number of interesting new
models being launched in the next two years.”
Motor Finance Issue: 41 – March 08
Published for the web: March 20 08 17:52
Last Updated: March 20 08 17:53
