Car retailer Pendragon has hailed a positive fourth quarter as financial performance was slightly ahead of expectations.
In a new trading update for the year ended 31 December 2022, the Nottingham-headquartered company said a strong Q4 underlying trading performance more than offset higher operating and interest cost pressures.
The firm added that trading during the quarter was underpinned by strong volume growth in new cars, with the group delivering like-for-like volume growth of 4.6%, and outperforming the retail new car market growth of 1%. Used car volumes also grew by 5.2% on a like-for-like basis in Q4, a notable improvement on the declines seen in the third quarter.
As a result of this performance, group underlying profit before tax for the year is expected to be approximately £57m, down from £83m in 2021, but slightly ahead of market expectations.
Bill Berman, Chief Executive of Pendragon, said: “We closed out the year with a positive performance in the final quarter, which saw volume growth in both new and used vehicle sales.
“Despite the numerous challenges we have faced across our markets and in the economy at large, we performed strongly in 2022 and this shows the benefits of the improvements made across the business in recent years.
“Whilst market challenges will persist in 2023, we enter this new year with confidence and good momentum, and we look forward to making further progress against our strategic objectives.”
Last month Hedin Group abandoned its £400m takeover bid for Pendragon, due to challenging market conditions and an uncertain economic outlook.
