By Jessica Fino
Date: Tuesday 04 Aug 2015
LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Automotive retailer Pendragon said trading during the first-half of the year was ahead of expectations, driving shares up 5%.
Pre-tax profit nearly doubled to £60.8m from £33.2m and revenue increased to £2.29bn from £2.07bn.
Aftersales gross profit rose 6.7% to £6.2m thanks to a growing vehicle market, which the company believes is set to continue.
Following the strong results, the board doubled its dividend to 0.6p per share.
Pendragon chief executive Trevor Finn said given the encouraging start to the year he anticipated the full year outturn would be "comfortably ahead of expectations."
"We plan to expand our footprint, by adding sites particularly in areas where we have no representation, which will provide further convenience to our customers," Finn said.
Shares in the company rose 5.13% to 41p at 1126 BST on Tuesday.