Marshall Motor Holdings PLC COVID-19: Temporary Closure of Sites (2822H)
24 March 2020 - 4:33AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMMMH
RNS Number : 2822H
Marshall Motor Holdings PLC
23 March 2020
23 March 2020
MARSHALL MOTOR HOLDINGS PLC
(the "Group")
COVID-19: Temporary Closure of Sites
Marshall Motor Holdings Plc, one of the U.K.'s leading
automotive retail groups, announces today that, in light of the
current situation with COVID-19, it is temporarily closing all of
its retail sites across the country.
This decision has been made in the interests of all its key
stakeholders, in particular its 4,300 colleagues, as well as its
many loyal customers, its business partners, shareholders and the
nation as a whole. Other than certain key roles, all of the Group's
colleagues will be temporarily furloughed during this shutdown.
The Group's key brand partners and banks have been consulted on
this decision and remain extremely supportive.
As well as retailing vehicles, the Group also provides vital
public-interest aftersales services. These include breakdown,
repair and servicing for emergency service vehicles, commercial
vehicles that make vital deliveries to shops, the UK's key workers
such as those in the NHS and other critical support services for
the country and vulnerable people. The Group wants to continue to
provide those vital aftersales services to those categories of
customer throughout this temporary shutdown and is putting in place
measures to do so where possible.
The Group will keep this decision under continuous review and
provide further updates when appropriate.
Financial Position
The decision to temporarily close its businesses will clearly
have a material impact on the Group's trading for the year ending
31 December 2020. The Group has modelled the impact of temporary
closure over a prolonged period. This modelling makes certain
assumptions regarding the application of the measures announced by
the Government to support businesses and workers during this
period, including the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme.
Based on those modelling assumptions and with the continued
support of the Government, the Group's key brand partners and banks
which has been indicated, the Board believes the Group has the
financial capacity to withstand the impact of a closure of its
sites well beyond the end of June 2020.
Existing financial guidance for the year ending 31 December 2020
is withdrawn pending further certainty over the length and extent
of the current circumstances in the country.
Dividend
In light of these unprecedented circumstances, the Board is
suspending the recommended payment of the previously announced
final dividend of 5.69p per share for the year ended 31 December
2019. The Board will reconsider the payment of the dividend, both
in terms of quantum and timing, once there is more visibility on
the effects of COVID-19 on the Group's business. The decision to
suspend the final dividend in no way alters the Board's view that
the Group remains appropriately capitalised, with strong
operational cashflows in normal circumstances. However, in the
current extraordinary climate, the Board believes it is prudent to
use every tool at its disposal to maximise the Group's resilience
during this period. The Group's modelling assumptions referred to
above assume that the previously announced final dividend for 2019
is suspended.
The information contained in this announcement is deemed by the
Company to constitute inside information for the purposes of
Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014
ENDS
Marshall Motor Holdings plc c/o Hudson Sandler
Daksh Gupta, Chief Executive Officer Tel: +44 (0) 20 7796
4133
Richard Blumberger, Chief Financial
Officer
Investec Bank plc (Financial Adviser, Tel: +44 (0) 20 7597
NOMAD & Broker) 5970
Christopher Baird
David Flin
David Anderson
Hudson Sandler Tel: +44 (0) 20 7796
4133
Nick Lyon
Bertie Berger
Nick Moore
Notes to Editors
About Marshall Motor Holdings plc ( www.mmhplc.com )
The Group's principal activities are the sale and repair of new
and used vehicles. The Group's businesses have a total of 117
franchises covering 24 brands, operating from 98 locations across
28 counties in England. In addition, the Group operates six trade
parts specialists, two used car centres, six standalone body shops
and one pre delivery inspection centre.
In 2019 the Group was recognised by the Great Place to Work
Institute, being ranked the 11st best place to work in the UK
(super large company category). This was the tenth year in
succession that the Group has achieved Great Place to Work
status.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
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