PENDRAGON PLC INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT (Issued 17 April 2019)

This Interim Management Statement for Pendragon PLC covers the three-month period from 1 January 2019 to 31 March 2019. Unless otherwise stated, figures quoted in this statement are for the three months ended 31 March 2019.

Trading Update

·    Group Revenue +4.6% L4L (+1.2% total)

·    New Revenue +6.3% L4L (+2.6% total)

·    Used Revenue +2.9% L4L (-0.2% total)

·    Aftersales Revenue +5.5% L4L (+2.0% total)

·    New Gross Profit -5.4% L4L (-9.1% total)

·    Used Gross Profit -1.6% L4L (-1.6% total)

·    Aftersales Gross Profit -5.0% L4L (-9.0% total)

·    Operating Costs +6.2% L4L (+3.3% total)

Total Group revenue grew by 1.2% in the period, with like-for-like growth of 4.6%. Group like-for-like new revenue growth of 6.3% in the quarter compared to a decline in registrations in the overall new car market, of 2.4% vs the prior year. However, challenging trading conditions during the period resulted in a reduction in margins in new, used and aftersales, leading to a 5.4% fall in the like-for-like new gross profit, a 1.6% fall in the like-for-like used gross profit and a 5.0% fall in the like-for-like aftersales gross profit. This performance, combined with both a higher level of operating costs and increased losses within Car Store, arising from the ongoing development and maturation of the business (FY19 Q1: 34 stores, FY18 Q1: 26 stores), resulted in an underlying loss before tax of £2.8m. This is around £10m lower than our expectations for the period, comprised of c.£7m from the net impact of higher revenue and lower margins, c.£2m of additional operating costs and c.£1m from the lower than expected Car Store performance.

Operational and Financial Review

In light of this trading update and given the recent appointments to the business of both Mark Herbert (Chief Executive Officer) and Mark Willis (Chief Financial Officer), a review of the operational and financial prospects of the Group is currently being undertaken.  The results of this review will be communicated to the market during June. In addition, a strategic update will be provided with the Interim results.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014