Bradford motor group JCT 600 has announced record results.

The company saw operating profits rise by £8.8 million in the year to December, up 24 per cent from the £7.1 million it recorded in 2001.

JCT 600, which is run by father and son team, Jack and John Tordoff, saw turnover hit £340 million.

The firm, which is in the middle of a £25 million dealership investment programme, expects profits this year to hit the £10 million mark.

Chairman Jack Tordoff said: "We've had an incredible first quarter across all our brands and we sold 1,000 cars between January and March. That's up on the first quarter of last year.

"We're bucking the trend and finding things quite buoyant.

"I think that is down to us doing a lot of things such as investing in more training of our customer-facing staff and introducing new managers."

The firm is set to open its £4.5 million Lister Park BMW and Mini dealership on Sticker Lane in July to replace the one burnt out in the riots. It is also ploughing £20 million into three Mercedes dealerships in Sheffield, Chesterfield and Doncaster.

Mr Tordoff added: "We move into 2003 with our turnover exceeding £1 million a day.

"This is a tremendous achievement for a private family company and fills us with great pride.

The centre in Sheffield will open in June this year, while the Doncaster and Chesterfield outlets will open shortly afterwards.

The firm is also spending a further £3 million redeveloping a Porsche site in Newcastle which will open in May.

Chief executive John Tordoff, who took over responsibility for the group's operations at the beginning of 2002 from his father, added: "I'm delighted that my first year of office has seen record profits for the group.

"It has been a busy 12 months of expansion and improvement during which we have laid down the foundations for even higher profits in the future.

"We are aiming to crack the £10 million profit barrier, if not this year then pretty soon.''