Inchcape profit tops hopes but firm is cautious on recovery

MULTINATIONAL car dealer Inchcape posted a smaller-than-expected fall in 2009 profit, helped by cost cutting and market share gains, but said it did not see a recovery in its markets until late this year.

By The Newsroom

Published 10th Mar 2010, 08:05 BST

The firm, which sells and distributes cars for manufacturers including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Toyota in 26 countries, said profit before tax and one-off items fell 19 per cent to 155.1m last year on an 11 per cent fall in sales to 5.6bn.

That was ahead of analysts' profit forecasts of 141-151m and helped by about 70m of cost savings and the resilience of the group's used-cars and servicing businesses.

"In 2010, we expect to benefit from continued market momentum in Hong Kong and Australia and stable industry in Belgium and Finland but we also continue to anticipate market declines in the UK, Greece, Singapore, Eastern Europe and Russia," said chief executive Andre Lacroix.

"We therefore remain cautious for 2010 and do not expect a global recovery to start until well into the second half of this year given consumer confidence is still weak and unemployment continues to rise in many of our key markets."