Pendragon PLC
15 April 2003
15 April 2003
AGM STATEMENT
At today's Annual General Meeting of Pendragon PLC, the Chairman, Sir Nigel
Rudd, made the following statement:
' In 2002 Pendragon achieved annual results well ahead of the previous year
partly due to record new car registrations in the UK and a buoyant car market in
the USA. Pendragon has made a positive start to 2003 with operating profits for
the first quarter ahead of last year.
We expect new car registrations in our principal market, the UK, to be lower in
2003. First quarter registrations were down 1.4% compared to the same period in
2002. Despite this we have been able to increase our UK profits.
We have seen a temporary slowdown in demand for new cars in the USA, caused by
uncertainty over the conflict in Iraq. This has had an adverse impact on sales
volumes in the short term. However, we see significant growth opportunities for
us in that market. Since publication of our preliminary results in February, we
have acquired two further Land Rover dealerships in California. Our German
businesses have shown a marginal improvement in profitability so far this year.
We have also continued with our policy of share buybacks. Since our preliminary
results we have bought back and cancelled 2.2 million shares at a cost of £6.4
million. This represents 3.9% of the issued share capital and will further
enhance earnings per share.
Overall our results for the first quarter are ahead of our expectations and last
year. This is in part due to the increasing influence the UK March new car
market has in making the first half of the year a greater contributor to full
year results. The results of the group so far this year make us confident that
Pendragon will have another successful year of trading.'
Enquiries:
Trevor Finn, Chief Executive Pendragon PLC 01623 725 000
David Forsyth, Finance Director
Charlotte Hepburne-Scott Finsbury Group 020 7251 3801
Gordon Simpson
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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