11 August 2019

For at least the past four years and probably longer – I didn’t check back any further – Pendragon has always issued its half-year results in the first week of August. This year things are… different (or should that be ‘late’).

On Friday, Pendragon told the stock market its H1 interims for the period to the end of June will be out on 18 September. That’s long after its peer group of retail PLCs will have reported.

In isolation there’s nothing wrong with moving an announcement to the stock exchange. But when the firm has issued multiple profit warnings, several sets of poor results for previous periods, plus lost a new CEO within three months of starting, then delaying the 2019 half-year figures doesn’t look good. It certainly isn’t going to help the already-low share price or messages from city experts to avoid the firm.

There is a host of speculation within the industry about what will happen to the one-time largest auto retail group in the UK. Unless the delayed figures come with some sort of statement from Pendragon’s board outlining a viable turnaround plan, then that speculation is bound to increase.

Over the years, big auto retail groups have come and gone. But Pendragon is shaping up to be a case study in how things can go spectacularly wrong, very quickly. Let’s hope there’s a Plan B.

Tristan Young
Editorial director
Auto Retail Network

Tags: Pendragon, Share price