Glenvarigill, the Scottish dealer group, is trying to move on from an embarrassing accounting mystery which caused it to lose millions of pounds and halve the size of the business.

The former Drambuie subsidiary, independent since an MBO in July 2002, posted a pre-tax loss of £5.3m on £179m turnover the following year. This included “exceptional losses” of £2.6m. They remain unexplained.

Managing director Tim Bartlett, who led the MBO, says: “There has been no fraud and no one working for the group now, or in the past, has benefited. We do not expect to make any further statement and want to get on with running the business.”

Bartlett stressed that former finance directors Gavin Manson (his MBO partner) and successor Andrew Jefferson (who left after a short time) were not responsible.

Glenvarigill was bailed out by Bank of Scotland converting a £5m debt into a stake and Drambuie redesignating £3.8m of preference shares as deferred ordinary shares with no rights. It also sold its Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari, and Renault outlets.