COVID-19: Temporary Closure of Retail Sites

RNS Number : 4095H

Motorpoint Group plc

24 March 2020

 

24 March 2020

Motorpoint Group PLC

("Motorpoint" or the "Group")

COVID-19: Temporary Closure of Retail Sites

Motorpoint Group PLC, the UK's largest independent vehicle retailer, announces the temporary closure of its 13 retail sites in light of the constantly evolving COVID-19 situation and in line with recent guidance from the Government.

The Board has taken this decision, in the best interests of its employees and customers, to help limit the spread of the Coronavirus amongst the UK population.  The Board is working closely with all of the Group's key stakeholders, including taking all possible steps to ensure the continued health and welfare of our teams. Steps already taken include the furloughing of relevant staff and halving director pay.  The Group notes and appreciates the various actions taken by the Government to support businesses and employees during these challenging times and will assess how best to utilise these while the Group's sites remain closed .

Due to the level of country-wide uncertainty, the Board has already taken proactive cost reduction and cash management steps, including pausing the purchase of additional vehicle stock, temporarily suspending the share buyback programme and postponing all discretionary capital expenditure.  These actions, taken with the continued support of the Group's banking partners, ensure Motorpoint remains as flexible and resilient as possible in the current unprecedented environment.

Trading for the 11 months to 29 February 2020 was in line with management's expectations and this continued into the first week of the Group's most important trading month of March.  However, the recent impacts of Coronavirus have had a material impact on March's performance and therefore on the FY20 out-turn. As a result, the Group is suspending all forward guidance until circumstances surrounding COVID-19 become clearer.

The Group has a strong balance sheet with a £20m Revolving Credit Facility committed until 2024, which has been partially drawn to provide additional liquidity in the current environment. The Board remains confident of the Group's robust and resilient model and will ensure the whole business continues to responsibly support the best interests of the team and customers.

Certain information contained in this announcement would have constituted inside information (as defined by Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014) prior to its release as part of this announcement.

Enquiries:

Motorpoint Group PLC Mark Carpenter, Chief Executive Officer James Gilmour, Chief Financial Officer	via FTI Consulting
FTI Consulting (Financial PR) Alex Beagley James Styles Sam Macpherson	020 3727 1000

Notes to editors

Motorpoint is the largest independent vehicle retailer in the United Kingdom. The Group's principal business is the sale of nearly-new vehicles, the majority of which are up to two years old and which have covered less than 15,000 miles. Motorpoint sells vehicles from brands representing over 95 per cent of new vehicle sales in the United Kingdom, with models from Ford, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, Nissan, Hyundai, Audi and BMW being amongst the top sellers. The Group operates from 13 retail sites across the United Kingdom: Birmingham, Birtley, Burnley, Castleford, Chingford, Derby, Glasgow, Newport, Oldbury, Peterborough, Sheffield, Swansea and Widnes, of which five have opened in the last five years; together with a national contact-centre dealing with online enquiries.

More information is available at www.motorpointplc.com and www.motorpoint.co.uk .

 

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