Our History
The story so far…
- December 2006 - the Group was admitted to AIM (Alternative Investment Market) following an oversubscribed equity raise of £25m (£23.6 million after expenses).
- 27th February 2007 - the Group announced that it had exchanged contracts to purchase the entire share capital of the Bristol Street Group Limited for an estimated consideration of £31m cash and £9m of shares, to be placed with the vendor. In addition, debt estimated at £29m was to be assumed.
- 27th March 2007 - the Group completed the acquisition of Bristol Street and concluded a further equity placing of £26m (£22.6m after finance and acquisition expenses).
- 2nd May 2007 - the Group completed the acquisition of Blake Holdings Limited for an estimated consideration of £4.9m. The Blake’s operation included a Vauxhall dealership in Chesterfield, a Vauxhall service centre in Matlock and Peugeot dealerships located in Chesterfield and Worksop.
- 29th June 2007 - the Group acquired four Honda car dealerships and one Honda motorcycle dealership in the East Midlands, through the purchase of the entire share capital of Grantham Motors Company Limited for a cash consideration of £4.6m. The dealerships acquired were located in Grantham, Lincoln, Boston and Retford.
- 29th June 2007 - the Group acquired the trade and assets of a Ford dealership in Morpeth, Northumberland from the Jennings Group for cash consideration of £2.6m.
- March 2008 and 2009 respectively - the Group opened new greenfield site used car outlets in Doncaster and Darlington under the Bristol Street Motor Nation brand.
- June 2009 - the Group completed a £30m placing, net of expenses, in order to fund a further dealership acquisition programme.
- June 2009 - the Group purchased three dealership locations from the receivers of Brooklyn Motors plc at Redditch, Cheltenham and Worcester. This brought the Mazda franchise into the Group for the first time.
- 2nd November 2009 - the Lichfield Vauxhall dealership is added to the Vauxhall portfolio, strengthening the Bristol Street Motors brand in its heartland of the West Midlands.
- December 2009 - the acquisition of Darlington SEAT bringing the SEAT franchise to the Group for the first time.
- January 2010 - a huge step for the Group as the first Scottish location opened with the acquisition of the Dunfermline Autocentre Ford car dealership.
- April 2010 – the acquisition of a second Scottish dealership, Paisley Peugeot, saw the Scottish dealerships re-branded as Macklin Motors; the Group’s brand for future dealership acquisitions in Scotland. This month also saw the relocation of Gloucester Renault from a dual franchise to a freehold property, to allow for growth in scale.
- 9th June 2010 – Further Macklin Motor dealerships added to the Group, with the acquisition of Ford and Mazda dealerships in Glasgow and Hamilton.
- June 2010 - the Group acquired Vauxhall dealerships in Crewe and Macclesfield.
- July 2010 - a second SEAT dealership is added to the Bristol Street Motors portfolio with a dealership in Derby.
- 10th September 2010 - the Group purchased a Peugeot dealership in Dunfermline.
- September 2010 - the Group strengthened regional concentration in the North West with the acquisition of two franchised dealerships: Altrincham Nissan and Macclesfield Ford from Lookers plc.
- 7 February 2011 - the Group franchised its non-franchised Motor Nation used car operation at Darlington with the Nissan franchise.
- 22 February 2011 - the Group acquired the entire share capital of Patrick (Holdings) Limited. This company traded as Patricks of Durham, operating the Vauxhall franchise in Durham, Co Durham.
- April 2011 – the acquisition of SEAT Barnsley brought the total number of SEAT dealerships to three.
- 1 June 2011 - Mazda Bristol was added to the growing portfolio.
- 1 July 2011 - the Group opened a Hyundai dealership in Peterlee. This represented the Group’s fourth Hyundai dealership.
- 4 July 2011 - the Group opened a new Nissan dealership in Glasgow. This operation, situated adjacent to the Group’s Glasgow Ford and Mazda operations, encompassed sales of electric vehicles, passenger and commercial vehicles in addition to a Nissan Sports Performance Centre selling the GTR and 370Z models. This was the Group’s third Nissan dealership.
- August 2011 – the Bristol Mazda dealership expanded and welcomed Chrysler Jeep to the Group.
- 31 August 2011 - the Group acquired the share capital of Widnes Car Centre (1994) Limited, which comprised of a Nissan dealership in Widnes, Cheshire, and a wheelchair accessible vehicle business based in Batley, West Yorkshire (rebranded Bristol Street Versa).
- 9 January 2012 - the Group acquired the trade and certain assets of a Vauxhall dealership in Northampton from W Grose Northampton Limited. This acquisition brings the number of Vauxhall dealerships operated by the Group to 11.
- 28 June 2012 - the Group acquired the trade and assets of two Ford dealerships in Durham and Hartlepool from Holiways Limited.
- 29 June 2012 - the Group acquired the trade and assets of a Suzuki dealership in Mansfield from Co-op Group Motors Limited and is the first Suzuki dealership in the Group’s portfolio.
- August 1st 2012 - the Group expanded the Honda Division with the acquisition of the Doncaster Honda franchise contract from Pendragon. This represented the Group’s seventh Honda dealership (including Honda Bikes).
- September 10th 2012 - the Group announced the acquisition of the trade and assets of three motor retail locations from Co-op Motors. The acquired sites added a further six franchised sales outlets to the Group’s portfolio, with Nissan and Fiat in Derby, Nissan and Peugeot in Ilkeston and Nissan and Renault in Bradford.
- December 2012 - the Group completed the acquisition of the Newcastle, Sunderland and Durham Springfield Honda business. This places the Group as the largest Honda dealer in the UK.
- 8th January 2013 - the Group acquired the entire share capital of Dobies (Carlisle) Limited which traded as a Vauxhall dealership in Carlisle, plus the business and certain assets of the SEAT outlet also operated by Dobies in Carlisle.
- 14th January 2013 – the Group announced the acquisition of the business and certain assets of the Vauxhall dealership in Keighley which had been operated by Walter C Brigg.
- March 2013 – The Group opened its first Volvo dealership in Derby, branded Volvo Cars Derby.