Falling sales of new cars, diving values of used cars, a stuffed-up strategy for expansion, a fallout with one of its main partners and no chief executive — none of this adds up to much of a recipe for success for a motor dealer (Robert Lea writes). That shares in Pendragon, once Britain’s largest car retailer, declined by only 10 per cent after shocking half-year results is testament to just how far this stock has fallen.
At 9¾p, the shares are down more than 66 per cent from their spring high. Trading with a market capitalisation of about £140 million, the stock is only one fifth of its value when the car trade was a much happier place back in the middle of the decade.
