Vertu Motors continues on the acquisition trail with the announcement today of the purchase of Widnes Car Centre (1994) Limited.

It operated a Nissan dealership (www.widnesnissan.co.uk) in Widnes, Cheshire, and a mobility vehicle conversion business based in Batley, West Yorkshire.

This acquisition takes the number of Nissan dealerships operated by Vertu to four.

The mobility vehicle conversion business (www.wheelchair-access.co.uk), which includes both wheelchair accessible vehicles and more tailored vehicle adaptations, previously traded under the Versa name and will now trade as Bristol Street Versa Mobility Solutions.

The purchase price is estimated at £3.2 million which includes the freehold property of the Widnes dealership, trading since 1981.

Accounts submitted to Companies House by Widnes Car Centre (1994) in April for 2010 show a loss of £182,253 (2009: £28,756 profit), on turnover of £30.5m (2009: £31.4m). Total assets (less current liabilities) were £3.5m (2009: £4.1m).

The company employed more than 100 people.

No goodwill was paid in the deal.

Vertu now operates 83 outlets comprising 80 franchised and three non-franchised sales outlets.

The group will also announce its half year results on October 19.

In a statement today, it described trading conditions since its half-year results for the six months to August 31 as “challenging and volatile”, but the group continued to trade “in line with expectations.