Friday, American automotive retailing major Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (GPI), said that it expects third quarter profits below expectations, due to tightening consumer credit, and negative impact of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
The Houston, Texas-based company's earnings has been currently projected to be in the range of $0.39 to $0.44 per share.
Analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to report earnings of $0.67 per share for the third quarter.
Commenting on the projection, Earl Hesterberg, Group 1's president and CEO, said, "Although results are still preliminary, we estimate that the hurricane impacts on the Houston, Beaumont and New Orleans markets, which contributes to 20% of our market share, have depressed third-quarter results by approximately $0.15 per diluted share." Group 1 also reported that September sales and third-quarter profits were noticeably impacted due to declining customer traffic, as Americans have been focused on news of the financial crisis and the recent dramatic decline in the availability of retail automotive credit.
Additionally, the company stated that Randy Callison, Group 1's senior vice president of operations and corporate development has decided to retire effective Dec. 31, 2008. He has served in his current role overseeing Group 1's acquisition activities, fixed operations, and finance and insurance business, since June 2006.
GPI has ended Friday's trading at $13.62, losing 6 cents or 0.44% on a volume of 1.3 million shares on the NYSE.
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