National Truck division sees rise in six-month profit soar from $3.3 million to $4.3 million
August 28, 2013
Being part of a rare retail sector that is doing well has revealed itself in AP Eagers’ 23 per cent rise in half-year net profit for shareholders to $31.3 million compared with last year’s first half.
As predicted last month, the firm’s net profit before tax was $42 million, up 13 per cent on the earlier period.
“The resilience of the automotive retail market segment as compared to the genera retail market was again evident due to the greater focus on after sales service income, an integrated finance and insurance offer and less exposure to the move to online transactions,” it says.
National Truck division of the car and truck retailer and services provider, which reports annual results by calendar year, saw a rise in six-month profit from $3.3 million to $4.3 million for those periods.
However, higher net assets, due to increased used truck and parts inventory, resulted in annualised after tax returns falling from 18.3 per cent to 16.7 per cent.
Eagers also gained from being the largest shareholder in its main competitor Automotive Holdings Group, describing itself “pleased” with its investment, which garnered a $3.9million dividend following that firm’s $66.8 million profit.
“Strategically, the company remains focused on automotive retail and a dual approach of driving value from existing business , through process improvement, operating synergies, portfolio management and organic growth, while taking advantage of value adding acquisition opportunities as the present themselves,” Managing Director Martin Ward says.
