Pendragon swings to first-half profit, beats expectations

In the six months to 30 June, the company swung to an underlying pre-tax profit of £35.1m from a loss of £31m in the same period a year ago, with revenue up 49% to £1.8bn. Profit came in ahead of the group’s own guidance of £30m.

Pendragon said "significant" improvements in its digital propositions enabled the group to largely mitigate the impact of the third national lockdown in the first quarter.

"A strong trading performance was underpinned by the delivery of the group’s cost restructuring programme, delivering material cost savings," it said.

Over the half, the company outperformed the new car market as measured by SMMT with a 42.7% like-for-like increase in new cars sold versus total market growth of 39.2%, and a market increase of 35.7% in Pendragon represented franchises.

Pendragon said that while uncertainty remains for the remainder of the second half, it is still confident that underlying pre-tax profit the full year will be between £55m and £60m, leaving it on track to deliver its target of £85m to £90m by FY2025.

Chief executive Bill Berman said: "In line with the wider market, we are anticipating continued shortages in both new and used vehicle supply for the remainder of the year. We're continuing to deliver on our strategy and see significant prospects for the group to capitalise on the exciting market opportunities ahead."