Inchcape has expanded into the Caribbean after buying Interamericana Trading Corporation and Simpson Motors from the Simpson Group.
Completion of the deal was announced this morning (May 3) via the London Stock Exchange, with Inchcape saying the addition of the businesses had strengthened its reach with Suzuki, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru and Stellantis.
It’s also broadened its OEM relationships, having added Chrysler to its portfolio of brand partners.
The acquisitions – made as Simpson Group celebrates its 50th anniversary – were for an unspecified amount, but experts have estimated it will have cost Inchcape between £50m and £55m.
They are expected to add some £120m a year to the the multinational automotive distribution and retail outfit’s revenue.
Barbados-based ITC distributes to more than 30 territories, including Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Trinidad & Tobago plus Martinique. It distributes vehicles via a network of circa 50 dealers, most of which are independent.
Simpson Motors, meanwhile, has one large dealership on Barbados, and distributes passenger vehicles for Suzuki, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis and Subaru, as well as commercial vehicles for Isuzu, Fuso, JCB and John Deere.
Duncan Tait, group CEO of Inchcape, said: ‘We welcome the fantastic talent and expertise of ITC and Simpson Motors to the Inchcape family and look forward to building on the exciting opportunity for the group in the Caribbean.
‘The Americas & Africa is our fastest-growing region, with the addition of ITC and Simpson further bolstering our distribution and OEM partnerships as we deliver on our Accelerate strategy.’
Simpson Group founder Sir Kyffin Simpson added: ‘In the 50th anniversary year of our group’s foundation, I am delighted that Inchcape, a global business built on a strong foundation of heritage and values, will take Simpson Motors and ITC into the future.
‘It is exciting to know that our people will be able to leverage the strength that comes from a regional and international network of partnerships, and that this will open great opportunities for growth and expansion.
‘I would like to wish Inchcape, our dealer partners and all my colleagues at Simpson Motors and ITC the very best for the future.’
It follows Inchcape releasing its update for the first quarter of 2022, in which it forecast its pre-tax profit for the year to be 25 per cent above 2021 at £300m.
Analysts at financial service group Zeus Capital today (May 3) increased their forecast for Inchcape’s underlying pre-tax profit by 2.4 per cent to £300.3m as a result.
However, they have lowered their estimate of its revenue for the financial year to £7,068.1bn, which is 7.5 per cent less than Inchcape’s revenue figure for 2021.
