| Pendragon to miss profits forecast |
| Wednesday, 28 November 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pendragon, the UK's largest car dealer group, has warned its current year operating profit will miss market forecasts by millions and has reduced its expectations for next year. The group, which has a turnover of more than £5bn, blamed a weaker used car market in the UK and sluggish US sales, brought about by the south Californian fires, for the poor trading update.  Operating profits for the company are expected to be £12m behind market expectations this year and profit expectations for next year have been reduced by £18m. Share price slump“Used car margins have shown a positive trend over recent months but this recovery is too late to recoup lost profits from earlier this year,” the company said.
It predicted that borrowings would be in line with market expectations this year and said it would proceed with paying a final 2p dividend to shareholders at the year's end.
Pendragon is scheduled to make an additional pre-closing statement towards the end of December and will announce full-year results on 20 February next year.
In the wake of the announcement Pendragon's share price plummeted by more than 30 per cent to 37.75 pence – a low for the year. The group's highest share price this year was 126.5 pence.
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Comments (18)
rod
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its about time a lot... its about time a lot of you people making comments get up to date with the motor trade. its evolving, ( CHECK YOUR DICTIONARIES FOR THIS WORD)and Pendragon is slow to respond, like an oil tanker turning. Give it time. It will be no. 1 again |
C
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Every one knows that... Every one knows that the motor trade will turn a full circle....very soon! why do we think that plc and the hanger ons they employ are capable of anything? those who are earning big money and do not directly sell cars or are known personally by the customers and are eating dealership profits. Bring back proper management...dealer principals who are the life blood of the business...owner drivers who care about staff...lets have fun again in this business!!!!! care about our customers, be pa*sionate about the brand we sell. |
Brian McLean
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Over the past 25yrs ... Over the past 25yrs Trevor Finn and Chairman Nigel Rudd have grown Pendragon from zero to number 1 in the industry by aquisition and their ability to find, and fund, target companies, such as Vardy, has been very successful. The need to have good managers to run the dealerships hasn't been seen as a priority and people jumping ship from the Vardy Group, in the short term, will help them to quickly strip out cost. However there is a saying,'If you are not appreciated, don't bother asking why,just walk away. |
Mike Bee Supporter
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I couldn't have writ... I couldn't have written that better. Everything in that post is totally accurate and like Mike I was a Dragon DP for a good few years & was hounded out for exactly the same reasons AND because I wouldn't be straight-jacketed & behave like a creep. Ridiculous, supposed "cost savings" in the wrong areas is poor strategy. They will obviously now try to impose further "cost savings" which will have the inevitable result. The directors share purchase, especially at option price, is a good tactic on their part as they have promised a dividend, which will go a long way to repay their investment. |
Chris Eubank
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I think Trevor Finn ... I think Trevor Finn has been listening to the almighty WII FM far too long. (Whats in it for me) They ruined Reg Vardy, completely. |
charlie chatfields
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If you don't listen ... If you don't listen to your managers when they tell you the business is losing good people because your stance on pay is not working, if you reduce even the dealer principles authority level to all but zero and if you make every process difficult by chaneling everything through head office via a restrictive intranet system it is little wonder that these businesses soon begin to under perform. Investors and manufacturers should be equally concerned about this companys arrogance towards them. |
Mr Motivator
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Finn is too big for ... Finn is too big for his boots. Maybe time to sign on the bottom line of the resignation letter. |
Mike Bee
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Writing on the wall?... Writing on the wall?? Maybe Mr Casha and Mr Finn should look at EX EMPLOYEES, and try to woo them back, the excellent management team that have over the years been "Exited" because they had an opinion/view on how to run a business - but it did not suit the Pendragon way. Own up guys, days are numbered unless you do something NOW!! You still have some brilliant operators on board (I'm ex DP by the way), but they alone cannot do the lifesaving act - bring back some of the Vardy boys, bring back some of the Outspoken DP's/line managers and give them some autonomy - or are you too stubborn to even do that? Good luck - Listen, Listen and Listen again - your team deserve the chance!! |
Stuart
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As an ex pendragon e... As an ex pendragon employee (1 month as legged it as soon as I could) I said this would happen just when! This group dont have a clue, anything they get thats good they break, and the sad thing is they will never learn! |
Ecosse1
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Why cant they just t... Why cant they just tell the truth ? BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2007--Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE: PAG), an international automotive retailer, today reported that third quarter income from continuing operations increased 17.4% to $42.4 million and related earnings per share increased 18.4% to $0.45. Third quarter net income increased 28.7% to $43.4 million and related earnings per share increased 27.8% to $0.46. Revenues in the third quarter increased 14.6% to $3.4 billion, with each area of the Company's business experiencing double digit growth. Same-store retail revenues increased 8.5%, including a 14.0% increase from the Company's premium brand portfolio. The components of the same-store increase were as follows: -- New Vehicles +7.4% -- Used Vehicles +11.8% |
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