Pendragon boss gets new targets for carbon reduction, management diversity and OEM expansion

Reducing Pendragon's carbon emissions by 5%, increasing female representation in management positions and bringing at least two new OEMs on board are among the three-year targets set for the AM100 dealer group's chief executive Bill Berman and chief financial officer Mark Willis.

The car dealer group has announced details of its long term incentive plan for Berman and Willis which, if all the targets were smashed, would grant Berman 4.6m free Pendragon shares worth around £815,000 at current prices and Willis 2.5m shares worth £448,000.

The vast majority of the duo's long term incentive, a 70% weighting, is dependent on Pendragon improving profitability -  delivering at the end of 2025 a earnings per share result of 4.5p or a stretch target of 5.6p.

But 8% weighting has been applied to each of expanding new car representation and securing good used car gross profits - on target means two new OEMs dealerships opened and £220m used car gross profit.

A 3% weighting has been applied to each of the ESG goals, with targets to increase female management representation to a ratio of one per 5.8 males across the five management levels up to the board, and to deliver an overall carbon emissions reduction of 5% versus 2022's figure of 21,347 tonnes.

In March Pendragon reported the £57.6m underlying pre-tax profit that it made in 2022 had exceeded expectations, despite being a 30.6% drop on 2021's £83m earnings.

The AM100 motor retailer, which trades under the Stratstone and Evans Halshaw brands, had been expected by market analysts to deliver £49m.

Its results for 2022 show that revenue grew by 4.9% to £3.62 billion, and operating profit declined just 6.1% to £101m.