Press Release

MOTOR RETAILERS HOLDING UP WELL AGAINST DIFFICULT TRADING CONDITIONS

Equifax ScoreCheck shows that majority of top motor retailers have average or above average credit scores

London, 2nd September 2009 - As the motor industry waits with bated breath to see how the 59 plate performs this September, leading business information expert, Equifax, has revealed that despite challenging conditions, the top motor retailers have maintained good credit scores.

Equifax analysed the credit scores of the top 15 motor dealers in the AM 100* and found that 13 had scores that were average or above according to its ScoreCheck rating.

"Of course, these are the top companies in the AM league table, so it would be worrying if many of them had below average scores", confirmed Neil Munroe, External Affairs Director, Equifax. "But what is particularly encouraging is the number that have 'Very Good' and 'Good' scores given the immensely difficult trading conditions they have faced in the last year."

Equifax is encouraging all businesses to ensure they credit check any new companies with which they trade as well as monitoring the on-going financial status of key customers and suppliers to ensure they don't get caught out by a change in their financial fortunes.

"We have seen the use of some of our business monitoring alerts increase threefold in the past year" continued Neil Munroe. "We think this phenomenal rise demonstrates that businesses have really switched on to the importance of staying up to date with the status of customers and suppliers, in order to protect cash flow and safeguard against bad debt.

"We have also seen an almost 200% increase in alerts for Gazette and Detrimental information. These are reports that indicate a court or other negative action against a business and are a good early warning sign of potential repayment problems for other creditors.

"In times when new credit is difficult to come by and banks are reducing or even recalling debts, there may be a temptation to cut spending on basic processes and disciplines. But when times are tough cutting back on checks could be a false economy."

Equifax Portfolio Monitoring keeps a close watch on a wide range of events affecting an organisation - including new CCJs, change in registered address or company director and decrease or increase in credit limit. Email and SMS alerts inform users of the service of any changes as soon as they become available, allowing them to make intelligent business decisions and act quickly - a crucial ability in a recession.

*AM 100 - the motor industry league table published by AM magazine

EQUIFAX - TOP 15 MOTOR DEALERS SCORECHECK SCORES
August 2009

Company Name	ScoreCheck Grade	ScoreCheck Score
Pendragon PLC	E	29
Inchcape PLC	B	71
Sytner Group Limited	C+	61
Arnold Clark Automobiles Limited	B-	69
Lookers Public Limited Company	D	42
Mercedes-Benz Retail Group UK Limited	D	41
Ford Retail Limited	D+	46
Jardine Motors Group UK Ltd	B	73
Vertu Motors PLC	D+	49
Listers Group Limited	C+	60
Greenhous Group (Holdings) Limited	C	55
JCT600 Limited	C	56
Robins & Day Limited	I	10
Renault Retail Group UK Ltd	C+	64
Perrys Group Ltd	C	56

Equifax ScoreCheck
Equifax ScoreCheck delivers a dynamic score for all limited companies based on all the information available. It examines a number of financial indicators, which build a complete picture of a company's risk status. These include:

Accounts Data
Age of Accounts
Trading Stability
Profitability
Working Capital
Gearing
Legal and Court Information

Guide to ScoreCheck Grades
ScoreCheck calculates risk based upon a scale of 0 to 100; the lower the Score the higher the credit risk.

ScoreCheck Ratings & Grades
95 - 100 A+
85 - 94 A
80 - 84 A-
75 - 79 B+
70 - 74 B
65 - 69 B-
60 - 64 C+
55 - 59 C
50 - 54 C-
45 - 49 D+
40 - 44 D
35 - 39 D-
30 - 34 E+
25 - 29 E
20 - 24 E-
15 - 19 F+
5 - 14 F
0 - 4 F-

ScoreCheck codes
A Very Good Score
B Good Score
C Higher Than Average Score
D Average Score
E Lower Than Average Score
F Low Score

ENDS

For further press information please contact: Cecile Stearn, Margot Tomkinson Jenny Staniforth or Wendy Harrison at HSL on 020 8977 9132 / Fax: 020 8977 5200 or Email: margot@harrisonsadler.com