Recovery drives strong growth in Jaguar and Land Rover sales

The company behind the Jaguar and Land Rover brands in Ireland has recorded a sharp increase in turnover as it "benefited from the recovery in the market and through acquisitions in its retail division".

Recently filed accounts for Armalou Holdings – which, aside from importing and distributing Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, sells Volvos, Fords and Skodas – show that turnover jumped by 36.5 per cent to over €214 million last year.

Growth in sales for both of the company’s anchor brands helped to drive an operating profit increase of 11.2 per cent to €7.5 million. Sales of new Jaguar vehicles in 2016 more than doubled to 556, while Land Rover recorded a 51 per cent jump in sales to 1,167 vehicles.

Profit after tax for the company, which also owns the Spirit Motor Group, was €6.34 million as it closed the year with €10.19 million in cash at the bank and in hand.

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Wages

Armalou employed 183 people last year, up by 40 on the previous year, and saw wage and salary costs rise by 59 per cent to €11.3 million.

The company's listed directors include Gabriel Hogan and Declan McCourt. Mr McCourt is a former director of Fyffes and a former non-executive director of Bank of Ireland. Remuneration for the directors increased last year to €871,867, up from €533,414 the previous year.

In terms of future developments, Armalou plans to continue to expand the company “through strategic acquisitions” and growth of its “current portfolio of brands”.