Marshall Motor Holdings PLC COVID-19: Temporary Closure of Sites (2822H)

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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Existing financial guidance for the year ending 31 December 2020 is withdrawn pending further certainty over the length and extent of the current circumstances in the country.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: [phone] 
                                          4133 
 Richard Blumberger, Chief Financial 
  Officer 
 Investec Bank plc (Financial Adviser,   Tel: [phone] 
  NOMAD & Broker)                         5970 
 Christopher Baird 
 David Flin 
 David Anderson 
 Hudson Sandler                          Tel: [phone] 
                                          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 [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

END

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March 23, 2020 13:33 ET (17:33 GMT)