Inchcape reduces debt, enhances liquidity
Inchcape reporting the results for 2009 has said that it has reduced it debts £408 million and has net cash of £800,000.
The company had raised about £234.3 million in a rights issue in April and it also benefited from the government's scrappage schemes which helped it reduce the stock of unsold cars.
The Chief executive of the company, André Lacroix has said that ending these schemes will not effect much as demands from international markets where such schemes are not in place is high.
"We remain cautious for 2010 and do not expect a global recovery to start until well into the second half of this year given consumer confidence is still weak and unemployment continues to rise in many of our key markets," said Mr. Lacroix.
The company sees growth in Hong Kong and Australia along with stable market prospects in Belgium and Finland. On the other hand it expects a slowdown in UK, Greece, Singapore, Eastern Europe and Russia.
Mr. Lacroix said the company's decision to refinance through a rights issue saved the company the extra costs it would have incurred from more expensive borrowings unlike some of its peers who took over these borrowing during the recession.
The group recorded fall of 11 per in sales from £6.26 billion in 2008 to £5.58 billion. The profit before tax rose to £136.7 million from £108.2 million. The earning per share of the firm rose from 1.9 pence to 2.3 pence.
Shares of the firm closed 4 per cent down at 28.26p on Wednesday.
