Arnold Clark, Britain’s last significant family-owned dealership, has paid the surviving family of its eponymous founder £67 million in dividends.
The sum is almost the same amount that the company took in furlough payments during the Covid-19 pandemic, which it has declined to pay back to the taxpayer.
The late Sir Arnold Clark founded the group nearly 70 years ago and his wife remains as chairman. The latest accounts filed at Companies House reveal that Arnold Clark, which operates from more than 200 sites around the country, racked up record sales revenues last year on the back of soaring car prices.
The filings reveal that although volumes in both new and used cars remained down on pre-pandemic times, prices remained at relatively high levels.
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