THE owner of Taggarts and the former Lomond Audi business has grown underlying pre-tax profit by seven per cent to £77.1 million as revenue grew 17 per cent to £4.3 billion, in an eighth successive year of growth.
London-listed Lookers said much of the growth came from increased sales at its existing businesses, with acquisitions contributing just £131m of the £658m growth in sales.
The group also made a £28m one-off gain from the sale of its wholesale parts division to Alliance Automotive, which was completed to free cash for expansion of the franchised dealership portfolio in its motor division.
Lookers also sold or closed 10 under-performing businesses in the year after a business review.
Andy Bruce, chief executive, said the group remained acquisitive, adding: “We’ve made a good start to the current financial year and have a healthy order book for the delivery of new cars in the important month of March.”
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