The car dealership group which runs Taggarts ' Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo showrooms today flagged a continuing strong performance in used car sales in the first quarter of the year.
Lookers saw used car sales jump 8% in the period as it continues to benefit from what it said was a “buoyant” market with stable prices.
Although industry-wide new car sales dipped by 2.4% in the period, the group outperformed the market with an increase of 3% and a ‘”modest” rise in profit per car.
Lookers’ after-sales division – the biggest contributor to gross profits - saw turnover jump 11% during the period.
In an update before its AGM today chairman Phil White said the group had delivered a positive performance over the first quarter.
“The continued strong momentum in both our used car and aftersales businesses, demonstrates the resilience and diversity of the group's business model, despite the continued political uncertainty.
“We have a strong balance sheet, giving us the capacity to consider selective strategic acquisition opportunities and to continue to invest in upgrading our facilities and enhance our multichannel customer capabilities.
“The financial performance of the group in the period demonstrates the effectiveness of our strategy of having the right brands in the right locations and the trading performance since March has been satisfactory in the light of current trading conditions.”
