UK car dealer Pendragon posts 14 percent full-year profit rise
LONDON (Reuters) - British car dealer Pendragon said it expected another strong year in 2014 boosted by sales of cars and aftersales care which pushed full-year 2013 pre-tax profits up 14 percent to 38.9 million pounds ($65 million).
The firm, which runs over 250 retail outlets and trades under the names Stratstone, Evans Halshaw and Quicks, said its UK motor division saw new retail sales up 18 percent on a like-for-like basis.
Company revenue stood at 3.85 billion pounds, up 6 percent and the firm said its proposed final dividend of 0.3p per share was 300 percent higher than the interim 2012 dividend of 0.1p per share.
"We are confident that 2014 will be another year of good performance, with group performance in line with expectations for the year," it said.
In a sign of an increasing consumer shift to online, the firm saw a 22 percent increase in visitors to its websites with 13.3 million visitors in 2013.
The firm also said it had hit its target of having debt to underlying EBITDA on a ratio of 1.5 times 18 months early on June 30 2013. The ratio stood at 1.2 times at the end of December.
($1 = 0.5983 British pounds)
(Reporting By Costas Pitas; editing by Kate Holton)
