Lookers to axe 1,500 jobs and shut car dealerships to slash £50m costs

The firm said it was launching redundancy consultations across all areas of the group, which employs 8,100.

It comes as bosses said they will shut another 12 sites - either by closure, merging with other showrooms or refranchising - on top of the 15 dealerships being closed under plans announced in November.

In Sheffield, Lookers has a Ford dealership and Transit centre on Savile Street East.

The closures will leave it with 136 dealerships in the UK. Lookers said the moves will cut costs by about £50m a year.

The company has been hit by a difficult car market compounded by plunging sales amid lockdown, as well as internal issues after it uncovered a potential fraud within the business in March.

Recently-appointed chief executive Mark Raban said: "We have taken the decision to restructure the size of the group's dealership estate to position the business for a sustainable future, which regrettably means redundancy consultation with a number of our colleagues.

"This has been a very difficult decision and we will be supporting our people as much as possible throughout the process."

The group was forced to shut all its showrooms as the UK was placed in lockdown in March, but opened 41 in April for repairs and maintenance for key workers, followed by aftersales sites in May and then most of its dealerships reopened on June 1 as restrictions were eased.

Lookers said following the phased reopening and bolstered online offering, it has taken retail orders for 2,865 new and used vehicles in the past two weeks, just over half of the sales seen a year earlier.

The group has about 55 per cent of its workforce furloughed.

It was forced to postpone the release of its 2019 annual results in March after identifying possible accounting fraud in one of its divisions, and launched an investigation by accountancy group Grant Thornton.

Just days after the announcement, chief operating officer Cameron Wade quit the business.

Results are now set to be published this month.

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