Motors group JCT 600 lived up to its name in 2010 by boosting turnover to more than £600 million for the first time and shattering its previous record.

The Bradford-based group, which has 48 dealerships in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and the North East, remains on the growth trail with the resources to acquire other outlets.

JCT 600, owned by the Tordoff family, boosted turnover by more than 32 per cent in the year to December 31 to £615m, against £465m in 2009, The previous record of £498m was achieved in 2005.

The business performed well ahead of market trends on the back of continued rising demand for new cars in 2010. Although the UK car market benefited from the final three months of the Government’s vehicle ‘scrappage’ scheme – which provided cash incentives to drivers trading in old cars for new – JCT said this played only a small part in boosting sales of new cars to 21,000 during the year.

Total new car sales rose by 42.5 per cent and by more than 25 per cent on a like for like basis – far ahead of the national growth of five per cent in the brands sold by JCT 600.

Sales were boosted by the acquisition of three Audi outlets in Lincolnshire, as well as organic business growth.

Pre-tax profits leapt by more than 50 per cent to £12.3m, compared with £8.2m in 2009. In spite of buying the Audi dealerships and launching a used car supermarket operation, PriceRight, JCT 600 reduced like for like costs by 2.1 per cent.

The group, which employs 1,350 staff and sells 21 car marques from Mini to Maserati, also achieved record results for its after-sales operations against growing high street competition from the likes of Halfords and Kwikfit, selling 22,000 tyres and carrying out 26,000 MOT tests.

Although sales of cars up to three years old fell by 9.7 per cent, in line with market trends, overall used car volumes rose by 9.1 per cent.

JCT 600 invested £1m in computer systems to provide a common platform across the business, improve operational efficiency and support customer service.

John Tordoff, chief executive, said: “This is considered to be an excellent result, despite consumer confidence being affected by the uncertainty caused by a General Election in May followed by the media hype surrounding tax rises and public sector spending cuts.

“Gearing has increased to 26.6 per cent from 16.1 per cent after significant investment in the new Audi sites, however this is still extremely low for the sector and the group is well-positioned for further expansion.”

He said JCT 600 continued to outperform the UK market with total sales this year up six per cent on 2010.