Park's on right road despite fall in profits

Deputy Business Editor

Saturday 13 October 2012

COACH and motor group Park's of Hamilton (Holdings) has maintained a healthy level of profits in spite of a £14 million decline in turnover.

MOVING FORWARD: Cameron Wade, dealer principal at the Park's after-sales centre. Picture: Marc Turner

Custom byline text:

Greig Cameron Deputy Business Editor

Accounts filed at Companies House show pre-tax profits dropped 2% from £10.79 million to £10.54m in the 12 months to March 31, 2012, with operating profits down 1.7% from £11.7m to £11.5m.

That came alongside a 4% drop in turnover, from £354.1m to £339.8m.

The company, founded by Douglas Park in 1971 and still majority controlled by the 62-year-old, said sales in its motor division declined 5% from £333.2 to £316.8m while coach hire turnover increased around 10% from £20.9m to almost £23m.Writing in the accounts the directors said: "Despite difficult trading conditions as a result of the general uncertainty in the economy, the company is in a good financial position at the end of the year."As for many businesses of our size the business environment in which we operate continues to be challenging. The car market in the UK is highly competitive and margins continue to be tight. "We are also subject to consumer spending patterns and consumers' overall level of disposable income within our economy."The business increased capital expenditure and financial investment from £4.7m to £17.9m, which included £10.1m buying investment property.Net debt increased from £41.3m to almost £50m while interest and other financing payments showed a small rise from £920,389 to £937,437.The average number of employees in the year grew to 1111, from 1084 in the prior 12 months, with staff costs staying steady at £27.4m.Directors' remuneration rose from £447,369 to £464,412, while the highest paid saw a small increase in their emoluments from £95,512 to £99,667. The interim equity dividend increased from £4.5m to £4.9m.The company acquired Douglas Park (Properties) from Mr Park in exchange for new shares.Shareholders' funds at the year-end were at £38.8m, up from £30.6m. Earlier this year Mr Park was involved in the Blue Knights Consortium which tried to buy Rangers.He was subsequently involved in another group with Jim McColl and former Rangers manager Walter Smith which expressed an interest in taking over the club from the consortium headed by the Ibrox side's chief executive Charles Green.Park's – which started as a coach hire operator before a move into vehicle sales with a Datsun franchise in 1977 – operates dealerships across Scotland including in Glasgow, Ayr, Irvine, Hamilton, Motherwell, East Kilbride and Dunfermline. It represents brands including Bentley, Nissan, Range Rover, Renault, Kia, Jaguar and SAAB.Earlier this month the company opened a new BMW and Mini after-sales centre, run by dealer principal Cameron Wade, on a four acre site to the north of Glasgow city centre.The Herald tried unsuccessfully to contact Mr Park for comment.

Contextual targeting label:

Automotive

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Park's on right road despite fall in profits

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED