The acquisition of Darlington SEAT bringing the SEAT franchise to the Group for the first time.

The Lichfield Vauxhall dealership is added to the Vauxhall portfolio, strengthening the Bristol Street Motors brand in its heartland of the West Midlands.

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.

The Group completed a £30m placing, net of expenses, in order to fund a further dealership acquisition programme.

2008 and 2009 respectively

The Group opened new greenfield site used car outlets in Doncaster and Darlington under the Bristol Street Motor Nation brand.

The Group acquired the trade and assets of a Ford dealership in Morpeth, Northumberland from the Jennings Group for cash consideration of £2.6m.

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.

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.

The Group completed the acquisition of Bristol Street and concluded a further equity placing of £26m (£22.6m after finance and acquisition expenses).

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.

The Group was admitted to AIM (Alternative Investment Market) following an oversubscribed equity raise of £25m (£23.6 million after expenses).