UK-based car distributor Inchcape has reported a 22% like for like year-on-year reduction in revenue for the first quarter of this year, but was helped on its bottom line by the continued impact of weak sterling.
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The firm maintained that although car markets around the world remain ‘challenging’, trading for the first quarter was ahead of internal expectations.
It also said it continued to benefit from the weakness of sterling in the translation of our overseas profits.
Total sales were down 13% (down 21% in constant currency) compared to the same period last year. Like for like sales were 22% lower than the prior year.
The firm’s unaudited reported pre-tax profit for the quarter of was GBP20m is down 69% (down 74% in constant currency) on what was a record first quarter last year.
Inchcape said the result was ‘slightly better than expected’ as a result of stronger performances from the UK and Singapore markets together with the ‘resilience of aftersales business’.
