Lookers at this time elevated its pre-tax revenue expectations for the yr to at the least £75m – a drop on final yr’s £90.1m.
In a buying and selling replace to the London Inventory Change for the third quarter to September 30, the automotive retail and repair group additionally introduced a share buyback programme of as much as £15m.
As well as, it stated it had been appointed by Nice Wall Motors as official retailer for its first EV within the UK, underneath the Ora model, and had signed a franchise settlement with Lotus to symbolize it in Northern Eire as nicely.
Chief government Mark Raban stated: ‘We’ve constructed on the sturdy first-half buying and selling momentum, significantly within the vital month of September with the arrival of a brand new registration plate.
‘We stay aware of ongoing provide chain disruption and vital inflationary pressures affecting shoppers and companies alike.
‘Nevertheless, our intense give attention to driving self-help operational efficiencies throughout the enterprise and guaranteeing ongoing sturdy car margin retention implies that we’re growing our revenue expectations for the complete yr.
‘I want to thank all of our stakeholders, significantly my unbelievable colleagues throughout the enterprise, for his or her tireless efforts in serving Lookers prospects to supply these sturdy outcomes.’
Lookers stated it outperformed the UK new market throughout Q3 by about 5.6 per cent, helped by its omni-channel buyer expertise technique. It stated the UK market declined by 0.1 per cent.
Throughout September, Lookers’ new retail unit gross sales have been up 11.5 per cent towards the UK new retail automobile market, which grew by 4.6 per cent, with underlying revenue earlier than tax for the month in step with final yr.
Like-for-like used car gross sales have been down by 7.1 per cent in Q3, which it stated was an enchancment on the 8.3 per cent decline reported for the primary half of the yr.
The amount decline was partly offset by ongoing enhancements in margin retention and the penetration of finance and ancillary merchandise.
Aftersales revenues remained sturdy and have been forward of final yr on a like-for-like foundation, it added.
As of September 30, 2022, the Lookers group had a web money stability of some £86m versus roughly £33m on the identical date final yr.
It stated the web guide worth of freehold and leasehold properties of some £297m was a key a part of its sturdy stability sheet and gave additional operational flexibility.
The mixed worth of its money and property portfolio as of September 30 was equal to 98p per share, versus 78p as of December 31, 2021.
Asserting the launch of the share buyback programme, the board stated it thought of that repurchasing shares on the present low cost to its money and property portfolio was a sexy funding alternative and in step with its capital allocation framework and acknowledged intention to keep up a progressive dividend coverage.
The aim of the programme is to cut back the share capital of the corporate and improve earnings per share.
Buying and selling with Nice Wall and Lotus is anticipated to start within the final quarter of this yr from current Lookers properties. In the meantime, it stated talks with different potential new companions have been progressing nicely.
Trying forward, the board stated it was inspired by the energy of Q3 buying and selling and early begin to This fall, and it continued to keep up a robust new automobile order financial institution, which was above historic normalised ranges.
But it surely added: ‘Though we’re happy with the current optimistic buying and selling efficiency, the provision of recent automobiles continues to be an element limiting our progress.
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‘We’re additionally cautious on how client spending is likely to be affected through the the rest of this monetary yr, with inflation, increased rates of interest and wider financial uncertainty.
‘However these elements, given the energy of efficiency within the interval, the board now expects underlying revenue earlier than tax for 2022 to be forward of its earlier expectations and to report a minimum of £75m.’
Zeus Capital had forecast a pre-tax revenue of £63m for the yr.
