Plaxton sets sights on Europe
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1 Plaxton has turned in a preix profit of £3.73 million of le nine months to end-June. During this period, the comany's coach division, which as a 50% share of the UK ixury coach market, has enwed a 14% increase in sales. laxton chairman David Matthws claims that 94% of deliver:8 were made on time.
Reeve Burgess, Plaxton's Chesterfield-based midiand mini-bus maker, has also been re-organised and returned a profit on unit sales up by 19%.
During the period under review, Plaxton's contract hire and leasing fleet, Roadlease, has expanded by an impressive 260%, while its General Motors dealerships in Rotherham and Bolton now account for 3% of GM's total UK car sales. Roadlease contributes about 10% of turnover and profits.
Matthews snapped up three Ford dealerships in April and owns a Leyland Daf dealership in Sheffield. Vehicle turnover has increased by 67% over the same period last year.
The results reflect a rapid turnaround in Plaxton's fortunes since Matthews took over early last year. A change in the year-end to December 31 makes direct comparisons difficult, but for the six months to March 1987, turnover was £17 million, yielding pre-tax profits of only £123,000.
For this latest period, turnover leaped to £140 million giving 11.7p earnings per share. The board has recently declared a second interim dividend of 1.9p.
Matthews has now begun a full-blooded assault on the European market with the acquisition of French coach builder Carrosserie Lorraine from Iveco (CM 13-19 October).