EXPANDING dealership and leasing motor group Sanderson Bramall has reported record interim pre-tax profits up 10% to £6.7 million for the six months to June 30 (June 1996: £6.1 million). The company currently has 26 car and 11 commercial dealerships and was recently rumoured to be interested in the Appleyard dealership group. But, while Appleyard this week said it had no potential buyers, Sanderson Bramall remains acquisitive.

Chairman Tony Bramall said: 'We are able to tackle further substantial acquisitions and we are looking at opportunities that present themselves. We are in a business which is changing structurally fairly quickly and we intend to be one of the major participants.'

Turnover was virtually unchanged for the six months at £319.8 million (1996: £319.2 million) with profit on new and used car sales up 16% and the company reporting sales and orders for new cars last month substantially ahead of August 1996.

Bramall said the company's contract hire business, which is in its third year of operation and numbers 1,000 units, was in profit and would make 'a modest contribution' to this year's figures. The company is aiming for a leased fleet of around 5,000 units by the end of the century through organic growth rather than acquisition.