Inchcape in the fast lane

27th Oct 2011 09:19

Car dealer Inchcape's third quarter revenues were "slightly better" than expected as strength in Asia Pacific and emerging markets helped offset weak consumer confidence in Europe.Inchcape, which operates in 26 countries, pointed to a better than expected performance in Hong Kong and Singapore and also said Russia and emerging markets were ahead of expectations."Our UK business delivered a solid trading performance in a challenging trading environment as we continued to outperform the industry with market share gains in the luxury and premium segments, while the demand for used cars and aftersales remained robust," Inchcape said."In Europe, consumer confidence continues to weaken but we benefited from an improved supply situation sooner than expected, enabling us to grow our market share in the third quarter."Total revenues in the third quarter came in at £1.459bn, up 2.2% from the previous year. Like-for-like revenues were up by 4.1%.---RG