Scottish motor dealer Peter Vardy has notched up an 11% rise in annual sales after investing £6million in a new Porsche showroom in Aberdeen.
The Glasgow-based firm said yesterday its turnover grew to £437.2million last year, from £393.5million in 2014.
Pre-tax profits soared to £9.23million in the latest period, compared with just over £5million previously.
The company paid no dividend for 2015, but distributed share options to its 800 employees as part of the Peter Vardy Partnership programme.
And in line with the Vardy family’s reputation for philanthropy, the firm has donated 10% of its profits to charity.
The firm said underlying returns on sales – a key industry benchmark – rose to 2.7% in 2015, from 2% last time.
It added: “The industry average for the same period was 1.22%. More strikingly, average profit per dealership at Peter Vardy was £1.012million, compared to an industry average in 2015 of £197,000.”
The six-year-old company’s operations across Scotland include six Vauxhall showrooms as well as BMW, Mini, Jaguar, Land Rover and Porsche dealerships and a 75,000sq ft used car “supermarket”, CarStore, in Glasgow.
The new Porsche showroom is on the site of Glencraft’s old mattress factory in Wellington Road, Aberdeen.
Vardy said its focus on manufacturing relationships, digital opportunities and delivery of its vision to be “the best place to work and the best place to buy”, reaped rewards last year.
“The group is performing ahead of its 2020 strategy after the first year,” chief executive Peter Vardy added.
Mr Vardy revived his family’s 93-year-old links with UK car retailing when he launched his own company in 2006.
He is the son of Sir Peter Vardy, who took over the north-east of England business founded by his own father, Reg Vardy, in 1976.
