In addition, the proportion of female sales executives in the Group has grown by 60%. The Group's CGUs are groups of dealerships connected by manufacturer brand.
Investment in relocations and major rebuilds included:- this development brings together Lincoln Jaguar and Lincoln Land Rover, previously two separate leasehold sites, on one purpose-built freehold site providing a significant increase in capacity for both vehicle and aftermarket sales.- this relocated our existing leasehold showroom on Newmarket Road to a state-of-the-art Ford Store on long leasehold property and provides a significantly improved customer experience.addition to large scale redevelopments, the Group continues to invest in upgrading existing businesses to enhance the customer experience, satisfy brand requirements and increase sales and aftersales capacities. Meanwhile the pressure from her boyfriend Zhang Zhou and his parents pushes her to escape from the life that's getting, out of control . "I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the Chairman and the Board, to thank our entire team, our brand partners and suppliers for their continued support. A number of factors impacted the market:Firstly, general economic uncertainty, including the negative impact of Brexit on consumer confidence. In addition, the Group operates five trade parts specialists, three used car centres, five standalone body shops and one pre delivery inspection centre.In 2018 the Group was recognised by the Great Place to Work Institute, being ranked the 21st best place to work in the UK (large company category). Encouragingly, we have already seen a number of the first cohort achieve promotion to their first line management role.aimed at supporting and upskilling existing managers to help better equip them to get the best out of their teams and improve business performance.giving more control over recruitment quality and cost.
Excluding the impact of this and site closures, like-for-like unit sales to fleet customers declined by 7.7% versus an overall market decline of 7.2%.Sales of new vehicles utilising personal contract purchase ("PCP") have stabilised at 81% during the Year (2017: 83%). The five strategic pillars, of equal importance, which underpin that vision are: class leading returns; putting our customers first; delivering retailing excellence for the benefit of our customers; being people-centric by focusing on employee engagement; and pursuing strategic growth both organically and through targeted acquisitions in line with the Group's strategy.The Group's strategy of building a balanced brand portfolio in attractive geographic locations, has assisted the continuation of our strong track record in the face of a more challenging market. The IFRS 8 aggregation criteria have been met as a result of the Group's key product and service lines sharing common characteristics such as; similar types of customer for the products and services, similar nature of the product and service offerings, similar methods used to distribute the products and provide the services and similar regulatory and economic environment. 63% of the Group's used vehicles which were purchased on finance were purchased using a PCP (2017: 58%). As a result of this, and our confidence in the Group's long-term prospects, we have been able to amend our dividend policy and increase our dividend.This was another good year for the Group which again demonstrated the strategic importance and resilience of our business in a toughening market.Following four years of strong growth since IPO, we anticipated a challenging market in 2018. Superhero movies are in for a major shakeup in 2019 Published Sun, Jan 20 2019 1:00 PM EST Updated Tue, Jan 22 2019 10:02 AM EST Tom DiChristopher @tdichristopher