Vertu cheered by new car sales

The Newcastle group said while new car retail volumes declined 19 per cent in the UK as a whole last month, the group only saw volumes fall by 2.6 per cent and it was now on course to deliver a record profit in the full financial year.

Vertu, which is the UK's eighth largest motor dealership, said as it is a plate-change month, September is key to trading performance in the second half of its financial year.

The strong result followed a boost in half-year figures as it posted a 24 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to 5.2m for the six months to August 31.

The group said consumer demand had not tailed off as dramatically as expected following the end of the 'cash for bangers' scrappage scheme.

Robert Forrester, chief executive of Vertu, said: "With the outperformance of market expectations by the group in the first half of the year and a strong financial result in September, the group is currently trading ahead of expectations for the full financial year."

In the first half of the year, new and used car sales by volume were up 6.4 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively on a like-for-like basis, which lifted group revenues by 27 per cent to 511m.

The group said it had benefited from focusing on aftersales.