New car sales buoy Imperial
2012-08-23 13:13
'OUTSTANDING' RESULTS: Imperial has revealed what it is calling "outstanding" results, as it celebrates success even during tough economic times.
Logistics and transport group Imperial said it had delivered “outstanding” results for the 2012 financial year ending in June, 2012, on Wednesday August 22.
CEO Hubert Brody said: “The group achieved outstanding full-year results with strong revenue and profit growth across the businesses.”
FURTHER EXPANSION PLANNED
The business reported it had an excellent year in Germany, while the South African division performed satisfactorily, despite tough trading conditions. Distributorships, automotive retail and financial service businesses all performed well.
However, the tourism business experienced challenging trading conditions and the used car market was sluggish.
“We outperformed a strong new vehicle market with a good product supply and excellent positioning of our key brands,” Brody said.
New vehicle unit sales grew 19%, compared with market growth of 13%. Imperial’s strategy of adding parts, components and industrial equipment businesses offered resilience and made a significant contribution to group revenue, he said.
“The group remains focused on generating strong returns on capital,” he said.
Brody said Imperial would look to expand its logistics businesses, especially into the rest of Africa as trading conditions in the southern African division were expected to remain difficult. The fundamentals of the market were good, Brody added, as customers outsourced more of their goods to logistics specialists.
