John Martin Holdings, the eponymous motor dealership controlled by one of Scotland�s richest men, has increased its underlying losses, in spite of a hefty jump in pre-tax profits and a strategic move into auto repair for insurance companies.

John Martin Holdings, the eponymous motor dealership controlled by one of Scotland's richest men, has increased its underlying losses, in spite of a hefty jump in pre-tax profits and a strategic move into auto repair for insurance companies.

The group, which includes the Belmont and Murray Motor Company brands and is one of Scotland's largest independent motor dealers, is owned entirely by the Martin family and still chaired by John Martin, who founded the company in 1964 from a lock-up in Edinburgh.

Martin, whose empire stretches to a property development business as well as more than 20 car showrooms and repair centres in Scotland selling a range of marques from Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce to Volvo, is listed in The Sunday Times Rich List with a personal fortune estimated at almost £220m.

His firm's pre-tax profits for the 2007 calendar year accelerated to just over £2m compared with £161,000 the year before, according to John Martin's latest set of accounts, obtained by The Herald from Companies House.

However, the company noted that it had made profit of £3.1m on the disposal of franchises, and when the exceptional gain is stripped out an underlying loss of around £1.1m remains. The previous year's pre-tax profit was also bolstered by £333,000 of "interest relating to issues arising from a European Court judgment", the details of which were not recorded in the newly-filed accounts.

The company did not return calls for comment.

Turnover at the Edinburgh-headquartered group, which employs more than 700 staff, dipped to £196m, compared with £217m last time.

Nonetheless, the com-pany's big push into the insurance market began last year, and its most recent accounts note: "The group continues its significant long-term contracts with major insurance providers to carry out accident repair work at a number of locations. These contracts have had a beneficial effect on the profitability of our accident repair company."

Employee costs dipped slightly to £19m from £19.4m, while directors' remuneration climbed to £408,000 from £361,000. The highest-paid director, assumed to be John Martin, slipped to £132,000, including company pension contributions, compared with £133,000 last time.

The directors recommended that no dividend be paid, and noted that the retained profit should be transferred to company reserves.

The company warned that future sales could be offset by the loss of a franchise and by economic conditions.