Marshall Motor interim profit up 9.8%, declares maiden dividend

18th Aug 2015 10:30

(ShareCast News) - Marshall Motor Holdings, which floated in April, posted a 9.8% jump in interim pre-tax profit as revenue rose on the back of a strong trading performance from recently-acquired businesses and continued organic growth.The automotive retail and leasing company reported a profit of £10.5m in the six months ended 30 June, up from £9.5m in the same period last year, as revenue grew 16% to £632.5m.The company declared a maiden interim dividend of 0.58p per share and earnings per share came in at 19.7p.Chief executive Daksh Gupta said: "The board is pleased to announce strong trading in the first half of the year, underpinned by a combination of contributions from recently acquired businesses and like-for-like organic growth which led to our retail and leasing segments reporting significant growth in profit before tax."The successful completion of our IPO and transition to public company status marked a significant moment in the group's development and provided us with increased financial capacity to help us continue pursuing our goal of becoming the UK's premier automotive dealer group for retail and leasing."New car unit sales were up by 10.4% or 5.9% on a like-for-like basis, while used car unit sales rose 11.8% or 2.7%, and total aftersales revenues were up 9% or 1.7% on a LFL basis.The company said that based on current market conditions, the outlook for the full year remains in line with its expectations.At 1039 BST, Marshall shares were up 6.3% at 197.65p.