NEWS

THE majority of the top ten dealer groups are now taking part in Dealers Backing BEN, the automotive charity has announced. Dealers Backing BEN is the charity’s flagship sustainable income initiative. Sytner, Inchcape, Lookers, Jardine Motor Group, Ford Retail, Vertu and Marshall have all signed up and in addition more than 20 other major organisations [...]

Over the past month there has been significant movement within the listed UK motor retailer stocks, along with a flurry of results announcements. Generally speaking the results disclosed for the first quarter of the year have been positive and this has led to an improved sentiment, although this has taken a knock in recent days. [...]

VERTU Motors plc has today presented a glowing set of interim results to the London Stock Exchange. The unaudited results to 31 August 2010 show revenue grew by 27.3 percent, to £511.1 million. This growth came from a combination of new acquisitions, increasing new and used car sales volumes, and a rise in transaction prices. [...]

AUTOMOTIVE charity BEN has announced two new firms eager to support the charity’s dealer scheme. Industry giants PSA Retail and Vertu have agreed to join the charity’s Dealers Backing BEN scheme, helping the charity’s work supporting more than 15,000 automotive industry workers to continue. Along with Synter, Ford Retail, Marshall, Lookers and Pentagon, PSA Retail [...]

VERTU has today exchanged contracts to acquire two Cheshire car dealers from Lookers plc. The dual franchise dealers are Macclesfield Renault and Ford, and Altrincham Renault and Nissan. Altrincham is actually the first time Vertu has run a Nissan car dealer. It also takes Vertu’s Renault representation up to 5, and Ford up to 20. [...]

VERTU Motors continues its expansion drive with the acquisition of trade and assets from Hardie Motor. It has acquired leasehold property for Dunfermline Peugeot and is expected to pay a £300k consideration for vehicle stock. Unaudited accounts show it was a £3.5m turnover business for year-end 2009, and made a small profit. It is also [...]

VERTU says the first half of 2010 has seen an encouraging business performance with profit up. The revelations in the report will make interesting reading for all those in the car dealer trade. Vertu reports, overall, acquisitions are progressing, newly acquired businesses are performing well and ‘pre exceptional profit’ is marginally ahead of last year. [...]

VERTU Motors has exchanged contracts to take on SEAT’s Derby car dealer through a trade and assets purchase. The leasehold car dealer is being bought from GK Group Ltd, for a sum not exceeding £750k. This consideration mainly represents vehicle stock, and the deal is expected to be complete by 2 August. It will complement [...]

ADMINISTRATORS have confirmed 70 jobs have been saved by a Vertu buy-out Car Dealer announced this week. Smith & Williamson used their expertise to secure the deal for Vertu to buy Grasmere Vauxhall from Baker (Crewe) Ltd. They will now boast Bristol Street Motors branding. Retail motor trade specialist David Blenkarn, who is based at [...]

VERTU Motors Plc has announced that 2 Vauxhall franchises have today been acquired by its subsidiaries. The company has acquired the Vauxhall franchises from Baker Limited, which is in administration. Consideration of the deal is expected to be £1.5m – that’s £1.3m for freehold property and £0.2m for fixed assets. Vertu has also, in a [...]

VERTU has acquired Ford and Mazda dealers in Scotland through the purchase of Shields Automobiles assets. The purchase of the dual car dealers in Glasgow and Hamilton is expected to take place on 30 June. The properties will be leasehold, with maximum consideration payable of £2.5m and this will be settled in cash from existing [...]

VERTU has announced its end of year results which reveal a growth in Group profits to £4.6 million. This comes courtesy of a 7.6 percent increase in revenue, to £818 million. Scrappage played a big part in the improved profits for Vertu. Total new car retail volumes went up by 10.8 percent, although the Group [...]

RENAULT Darlington has been bought for £700k by Vertu and is to be renamed Bristol Street Darlington. The deal for the franchise takes over from a brief 5 months where it traded as David Penman Cars. Robert Forrester, CEO of Vertu Motors said the deal ‘strengthens the regional presence of the Bristol Street Motors brand. [...]

VERTU Motors plc has consolidated its 9th-largest UK car retailer position with another big acquisition. It has bought the trade and assets of Lichfield Vauxhall from Steve Thompson Cars Ltd. It is a £2.8 million deal, which includes the purchase of a freehold property for £1.675 million. This takes Vertu’s UK car dealer total up [...]

VERTU has taken on the Fiat franchise for the first time, to expand its 54-outlet UK footprint. Former Brooklyn sites in Cheltenham and Worcester have been earmarked for the Italian brand. ‘We have long wanted to add the Fiat car franchise to our portfolio,’ said group CEO Robert Forrester. ‘This is a very exciting development for [...]

VERTU Motors has become the first UK car dealer chain to win Approved status from the FLA’s new SAF scheme. More than 370 staff at the firm’s Bristol Street Motors have passed the Specialist Automotive Finance test. And Vertu Motors is thrilled with the result. Firm director Peter Stewart said ‘we believe this will benefit [...]