Inchcape sees further pain for industry

MULTINATIONAL car dealer Inchcape yesterday 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.

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

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

Chief executive Andre Lacroix said: "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."