Car retail firm Lookers reported an "outstanding" trading performance during the first half of the year - driven by continued outperformance of the new vehicle market.
The Greater Manchester-headquartered company said positive momentum - which sees the group on track to achieve underlying profit before tax of £50m compared to a £36m loss the year before - also came after strong volumes and margins in the used vehicle market.
The firm said the results to the six months ending June 30 also reflected a "resilient" aftersales performance.
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The group has a net cash balance of £30m compared to last year's net debt of £11m.
CEO Mark Raban said: "The business has delivered an outstanding performance in the first half of the year, despite the multiple difficulties presented by the pandemic.
"The whole team has made extraordinary efforts to ensure our customers continue to receive an excellent service, however they choose to purchase a car through Lookers, and the enhancements made to our digital proposition have made a real difference.
"There remains some uncertainty and challenges for the second half, but given the current momentum in the business, coupled with our focus on operational excellence and continuous development of our omni-channel customer experience, the board is confident of delivering a strong result for the year."
The statement added that while recognising pandemic uncertainty remains, the firm expects underlying profit before tax for 2021 to exceed previous expectations.
It added that the H1 profit contribution as a proportion of full year underlying profit before tax will be "materially higher" in 2021 than in previous years.
