Dealer profits double
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• A doubling of profits for its eight Iveco Ford and Leyland Daf distributorships has helped Birmingham-based motor dealer Evans Halshaw record a rise in pre-tax profits from £2.41 million to £3.65 million for the six months to the end of June.
Chairman Geoffrey Dale says its Midland outlet in Colesliill will sell 500 trucks and 700 Sherpa vans this year.
He warns that the recent 11 or 12% boom growth in truck registrations will not last, and that Evans Halshaw is making long-term plans for a slower growth in the market in future. "A lot or our competitors are getting carried away but we want to stress that we will be here for a long time," he says.
The group says it is treading carefully with its commercial vehicle contract-hire business, which it started in early 1987 on the back of its existing car contract-hire operation.
It has a fleet of 300 commercials on leasing or contracthire, as well as 20 trucks in a smaller rental fleet which it acquired from competitor UBM this year.
Commercial vehicle contracts divisional director, George Rowbathan, says the Birmingham-based operation has cautious plans to extend, but "is keeping plans close to our chest". It has a "gently gently" approach to finding new customers.
The group has Iveco Ford truck dealerships in: Sutton-inAshfield, Nottinghamshire; Newport, Gwent; Avonmouth, near Bristol; and Exeter — the last two acquired when it took over UBM last month.
It owns Leyland Daf outlets in: Coleshill, Warwickshire; Shoreham, near Brighton; Crawley, Sussex; and Aston, in Birmingham. It also has a Freight Rover Sherpa van dealership in Crawley.