Vertu Motors PLC (VTU.L) reported full year profit attributable to equity holders of 3.54 million pounds or 1.76 pence per share compared to 5.03 million pounds or 2.53 pence per share year-ago. Adjusted earnings per share were 3.22 pence, up from 3.19 pence previous year.
For the twelve months, profit before tax decreased to 4.5 million pounds from 5.5 million pounds prior year. Adjusted profit before tax totaled 9.4 million pounds vesrsus 8.4 million pounds posted last year.
The adjusted operating profit from continuing operations grew by 31.0 percent to 11.0 million pounds due to both like-for-like growth in the core dealerships, and crucially the turnaround in profitability of the dealerships acquired over recent years.
The company's revenue rose to 1.26 billion pounds from 1.09 billion pounds reported last year, reflecting the impact of acquisitions made during the year and the full year impact of prior year acquisitions. Like-for-like revenues grew by 6.0 percent reflecting higher volumes of vehicle sales in all channels.
In a separate press release, Vertu Motors said it agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of Albert Farnell Limited or Farnell for a total cash consideration of about 31.0 million pounds from Co-operative Group Motors Limited.
Vertu Motors expects Farnell purchase to be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership. In addition, Farnell would form a new division within Vertu and Jatinder Aujla, the current Operations Manager at Farnell, will be appointed to head the division.
Further, the Board also announced a fully underwritten Placing of 131,578,948 new ordinary shares in Vertu to raise nearly 50.0 million pounds before expenses. The placing proceeds would be used to fund the Farnell acquisition, to fund selected future acquisitions and for general corporate purposes.
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