LONDON (ShareCast) - Motor dealership business Caffyns posted a rise in pre-tax profit to £11.4m in the year ended 31 March 2015 from £1.57m last year as it booked a £9m credit before tax related to previously-announced changes to contributions to its pension scheme.
Excluding the credit, pre-tax profit rose to £2.5m from £2.2m, while revenue was up at £210.3m from £193.2m.

The company, which owns eight franchises in 12 locations in Sussex and Kent, raised its dividend for the year by 12.5% to 20.25p from 18p and recommended a final dividend of 13.5p per share.

New unit sales were up 66% on a like-for-like basis in the twelve month period, while total UK new car registrations increased by 7.5%, the company said. Caffyns outperformed the private and small business sector in which it operates, which rose by 4.9%.

Like-for-like used car unit sales were up 4.3%, building on the strong improvement of 17.5% last year, the company said.

"Our strategy to focus on representing premium and premium-volume franchises is proving successful," the company said.

It added: "The economic growth in the UK remains encouraging and Manufacturers continue to support our market with strong finance led offers, particularly on new personal contract plans as well as, increasingly, on used car plans. Though growth in the private and small business sector has slowed in 2015, and new car margins are slightly reduced, consumer confidence appears to be remaining steady."

At 11:20 BST, Caffyns shares were up 1.7% at 638p.

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