Luxury car dealer HR Owen said this morning it expects to report strong trading when it announces its 2013 preliminary results in March.

In a brief trading update to the London Stock Exchange, HR Owen said the company had an encouraging finish to 2013.

"The strong trading performance seen in the first half was followed by a robust second half
performance and this was further complemented by a particularly good close to
the year. Our used car trading performance continues to be very strong with
volumes up by almost a third on the prior year."

As a consequence, the company expects the results for 2013 to be ahead of management's expectations.

It expects to announce its preliminary results for the year in March.