Marshall growth news
February 16th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
MARSHALL Motor Group is continuing its growth by agreeing to acquire more car dealer franchises.
The firm has agreed to acquire the four businesses of Leicestershire’s Francis Group.
This is in line with Marshall’s stated aim of ‘growing beyond its traditional boundaries’ and brings two more Honda businesses to the Marshall portfolio. Francis Group SEAT and Suzuki also now join the Marshall stable.
Discussions are under way with staff right now; the deal will be completed by 24 February – after which, chief executive Daksh Gupta has some challenging targets planned.
‘ Our goal is to have all of our businesses in the upper quartile of our respective manufacturers’ CSi leagues and 8 of our branches hit No.1 during 2009 for their brand partners.’
Marshall now boasts 6 Honda car franchises and a Honda motorbike franchise. ‘We are delighted to be extending our involvement with Honda,’ said Gupta, ‘further building on our already excellent relationship with them.’
‘We are also thrilled to be able to strengthen our relationship with SEAT… (and are excited about partnering with Suzuki for the first time, especially as their current product line-up of small cars in particular is well placed to maximise the opportunity in the current climate.’
The latest acquisitions mean Marshall has added 12 car dealers to its business in the past 12 months alone. ‘These 4 will add another £35m to our annual turnover.
‘The deal meets all of our strategic acquisition criteria; the businesses have great people and the markets are scalable, offering tremendous potential for the future and this also continues our plan to broaden our horizons beyond our historic East Anglian boundaries.’
It also secures employment for every one of Francis Group’s 85 employees, confirmed Gupta.
Tags: Honda, marshall motor group, Seat, suzuki