Car finance drive powers retailer to orders growth

AN ACCELERATION in new and used car sales drove shares in Marshall Motor Holdings forward.

The autos retailer said that its revenue climbed 54.1pc to £1.9bn in the year with like-for-like aftersales revenue up 5.7pc following the growing trend of consumer car finance.

Figures from the Finance & Leasing Association last week showed almost £1.1bn was advanced for new car loans in January and £1.2bn for used cars. It’s a 9pc and 15pc increase respectively from a year ago.

Marshall, which is now the seventh largest dealership in the UK, said acquisitions had helped drive performance forward.

The firm said it was cautious for 2017 with the uncertainty around Brexit, but its order book for the March plate-change period was encouraging and trading was in line with expectations. Shares gained 2.1pc, or 3.5p, to 170p.

Not to be confused with the above firm, shares in hard landscaping products firm Marshalls hit a ten-month high as pre-tax profit leapt 31pc to £46m. Numis said the full-year results were 5pc ahead of its forecasts.

Panmure Gordon said the results were ‘a fantastic’ reminder of why Marshalls was one of its top picks in construction materials.

The broker was pleased to see the firm had gained market share, improved its margin, generated cash and rewarded shareholders.

Yesterday Marshalls announced a supplementary dividend of 3p a share. Shares leapt 9.7pc, or 30.6p, to 346.9p.

The FTSE 100 finished up 0.15pc, or 10.79 points, at 7368.64. Leading blue-chip metals firm Glencore was given a boost after Goldman Sachs raised the stock to a ‘Buy’ and upped its target price to 390p. Shares gained 2.9pc, or 9.1p, to 325.1p.

Cape climbed as revenue surged 21.4pc to £863.5m but the industrial services provider slipped to an operating loss of £32.8m for the year, down from a profit of £39.9m a year ago. Cape said margins in the UK had been hit by the weak oil price and lower demand.

Strong trading in the Asia Pacific region and a weaker pound helped performance. It expects a ‘much improved’ performance this year.

Canaccord raised the stock to a ‘Buy’ and added 20p on its target price to 250p. It said full-year results were better than expected and the outlook was robust.

Cape halved its dividend to 7p a share and Canaccord said it was likely to stay at that level for at least the next two years. Shares surged 7.7pc, or 13.5p, to 188.5p.

Somero Enterprises advanced as FinnCap added 71p to its target price for the stock, now 325p.

The business makes laser-guided equipment used in spreading and levelling concrete for commercial flooring such as car parks.

It said full-year revenue was up 13pc to £65m while pre-tax profit had climbed 22pc to £17.4m.

After finishing its new global headquarters and training facility last April, the firm plans to launch the Somero Concrete Institute this year to provide training and education to students. Shares advanced 6.1pc, or 16p, to 280.5p.

Tom Skelton and his wife took advantage of the previous day’s share price drop at Blancco Technology to snap up more shares in the business.

Skelton is non-executive director at the firm, where shares dropped 21pc on Tuesday. The couple bought 10,000 shares at 251.5p each and 2,500 at 248.95p, spending £31,373.

It gives the pair a 0.02pc stake in the company. Blancco shares rallied 4.8pc, or 11.5p, to 253.5p.