Vertu caution over warp in registration data

Chairman of Vertu Motors Paul Williams has
said the rise in classifying self-registered vehicles as private,
rather than fleet, by UK dealers is “inflating registration data
compared to sales levels,” something the company is keen to
avoid.

Williams was speaking at the Vertu Motors AGM
where the company announced year-on-year vehicle revenue growth of
5.1% and profit growth in each key area of business in the first
four months of the financial year.

By volume, Vertu new car sales figures were up
0.3% year-on-year for the four-month period, compared to 10.1%

growth in private registrations in the UK, but profitability in
the cars rose 4.7% and margins increased from 7.3%, in 2011, to
7.9%.

Conversely, Vertu
fleet and commercial sales volume was up 12.2% year-on-year for
the period compared to a UK market decline of 0.8%.

Aftersales margins dropped from 43.9% in 2011
to 42.8% following the group’s
used-car customer retention strategy, according to
Williams.

richard.brown@vrlfinancialnews.com

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