Marshall Motor Holdings Plc (LON:MMH) today noted and welcomes the Prime Minister’s announcement on 25 May that car showrooms will be permitted to re-open from 1 June 2020.
Implementation of the Company’s detailed plans to re-open its showrooms were already well advanced in anticipation of this announcement. The Company has been closely involved in the industry’s engagement with Government regarding the implementation of guidelines specific to the automotive retail sector.
Since the Company closed its operations on 23 March, it has undertaken comprehensive risk assessments of its sites, produced a detailed reactivation plan and engaged with and trained all colleagues returning to work on our revised operating procedures. The Board is confident that it is taking all necessary steps to ensure it is COVID-19 secure in line with current Health and Safety legislation.
The Company’s aftersales facilities are now open for all customers and for all services, having previously been focused on supporting the emergency services, commercial vehicle operators, key workers and vulnerable people. Whilst still early, initial demand is encouraging as we start to ramp-up our aftersales operations.
In terms of our physical showrooms, in anticipation of a June re-opening, colleagues had been returning to showrooms and readying them for re-opening to our customers in accordance with the Government’s sector guidelines. Further colleagues will be returning over the coming week to assist in the delivery of vehicles sold both before and during the lockdown following the Government’s recent clarification over ‘click and collect’ services.
The Company will provide a more detailed update in due course.
Daksh Gupta, Marshall Motor Holdings Chief Executive Officer, said:
“We welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday that car showrooms will be permitted to reopen from 1 June. We have been working on our detailed reactivation plans for a number of weeks with the safety and security of our colleagues and customers at the heart of those plans. We are confident that, in accordance with the Prime Minister’s announcement, our businesses are COVID-19 secure and we look forward to re-opening our businesses from 1 June.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Group’s business partners, particularly its brand partners, who have been incredibly supportive during this period. I would also like to thank those colleagues who have worked tirelessly through the lockdown period to ensure we continued to provide both online sales and aftersales services to our valued customers. Finally, I look forward to welcoming both our colleagues and our customers back to our businesses over the coming weeks.”
