At its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 24 July, Vertu Motors outlined impressive growth in profits during the four-month period to 30 June 2012.

Chairman Paul Williams commented: “The Group has traded ahead of the prior year with like-for-like profit growth in each of the key areas of new retail and used car sales, fleet and commercial sales and vehicle servicing.

“In addition, we have continued to see an increased contribution to profitability from the dealerships we acquired in the previous financial year.”

Total revenue during the period grew by 11.6%, within which like-for-like vehicle revenues grew by 5.1%.

New retail car sales volumes grew by 0.3% in the four-month period as new retail car profitability rose 4.7%. Significantly, fleet and commercial volumes were up 12.2%.

Used vehicle sales volumes also rose, up 6.7% compared to the same period a year ago. New retail car margins increased to 7.9% and used car margins also increased, to 10.9%.

The only downside was like-for-like aftersales margins, which slipped slightly to 42.8%.

Vertu also used the AGM to confirm the appointment of Espirito Santo Investment Bank as its joint corporate broker.