Pendragon (LON:PDG) warned that Brexit uncertainty was weighing on customer confidence in its half year results on Wednesday.
Shares in the company were down almost 10% during Wednesday morning trading.
The motor retailer said that, as a result of difficult market conditions, it predicts annual underlying loss before tax to be at the bottom of its expectations, whilst also cancelling its annual dividend.
“Economic and market conditions are very challenging,” Pendragon said in its half year results.
“The heightened political and Brexit uncertainty, as to both outcome and timing, is adversely affecting customer confidence,” Pendragon continued.
“We are not anticipating any improvement in this for the rest of our financial year and are closely monitoring market conditions and customer behaviour particularly during the important trading month of September.”
Pendragon posted an underlying loss before tax of £32.2 million in its half year results, down from the £28.4 million profit reported in 2018.
“Whilst market conditions have been challenging in the first half of 2019 with headwinds in both the used and new car markets the Group has continued to deliver like-for-like revenue growth,” Chris Chambers, Non-Executive Chairman, said in the company’s half year results.
“However, there has been a material decline in the Group’s profitability principally as a result of the actions taken to address excess used car stock,” Chris Chambers added.
“We made significant progress reducing this exposure in the latter period of the first-half and we remain committed to the strategy of growth in the Group’s used car proposition. The business is fully focussed on maximising performance, but we expect the market to continue to be challenging during the second half of 2019.”
At the end of last year, the motor retailer issued a profit warning, sending shares down.
As the Brexit Halloween deadline approaches, the only thing certain for the nation at this point is additional uncertainty.
Shares in Pendragon plc (LON:PDG) were trading at -9.52% as of 09:39 BST Wednesday.
