Pendragon 'upbeat' on car sales

Times are uncertain but used cars are still in demand

UK car dealer Pendragon has said that it expects full-year results to come in at the upper end of expectations.

It added however that it was still unclear how large "an impact credit tightening and house price falls will have" for the rest of the year.

Used car sales volumes were up 2% on the year but new car volumes were down 4% against the first quarter last year.

Markets remain shaky but used car net profit per vehicle has improved each month since October, it said.

"As anticipated, trading conditions have remained uncertain into 2008, principally because of turmoil in financial markets," said Pendragon in a statement ahead of its annual general meeting of shareholders.

"Despite this difficult background, our performance in the first three months of the year has been encouraging," it said, adding that the group is confident of a "satisfactory outcome to the year at the upper end of expectations".