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Car retailer Lookers warned on profit as ongoing weakness in consumer confidence amid Brexit and political uncertainty and rising costs accelerated in the third quarter of the year.
The company said it now expected to report underlying profit before tax for the full year of approximately £20m.
Trading in new vehicles during the quarter was below management's expectations, with like-for-like unit sales of new cars down 3.2%, compared to a decline in the overall market of 0.6%. This was a worry as September was normally one of the most profitable trading months of the year.
'Despite the level of orders for new cars both before September and in the first half of the month being satisfactory, we lost momentum as the month progressed and had a much weaker than expected finish,' the company said.
Like-for-like unit sales of used cars increased by 2.6%, but car gross margins were 60 basis points below last year's.
The group's higher-margin aftersales business continued to perform broadly as anticipated, with like-for-like gross profit 2.9% above last year's, the company said.
The company identified 15 dealerships to close, and said that all but two dealerships would be closed by 31 December 2019.
'One-off closure costs are expected to be approximately £8m including c.£2m of non-cash items. Financial efficiency benefits together with elimination of losses are expected to be in the region of £3m on a full year proforma basis,' the company said.
At 8:21am: (LON:LOOK) Lookers PLC share price was -10.52p at 39.08p