PENDRAGON, owner of Sunderland- based Reg Vardy, has seen a significant turnaround in its fortunes after returning to profit last year.

Helped by the Cash for Bangers scheme and strong recovery in used car margins, Pendragon posted underlying pre-tax profits of £10.1m in the 12 months to December 31, compared with a loss of £33.6m in 2008.

As well as Reg Vardy, now renamed under the Evans Halshaw brand, which it bought for £506m in 2006, Pendragon also owns the car brand Stratstone, with a number of dealerships in the region.

Chief executive Trevor Finn said: ‘‘The group has successfully dealt with the most challenging market conditions experienced since the Nineties.

‘‘We acted very swiftly to implement significant cost saving and debt reduction actions.’’ Pendragon now operates 276 franchises after it closed 26 outlets last year, with the overall loss of 879 jobs across the business.

The company has said that it has identified a further nine closures for this year.

‘‘While we certainly do anticipate that our market will remain difficult during this year, we also know that we are very well positioned to focus on the profit opportunities that will drive our core business forward,’’ Mr Finn added.