The company’s shares have been climbing steadily recently in expectation of a strong result for its six months to June 30.

Eagers said it expected net profit before tax for the period to be $267 million and its underlying profit before tax to be $218 million, compared with last year’s $40 million.

“The new car market continues to rebound from the initial onset of COVID-19 with a 28.3 per cent increase in the new car market compared to the first six months of 2020,” the company told investors this morning.

“These market dynamics are further buoyed by demand continuing to outstrip supply.”

The company said it would continue to monitor the impacts of the lockdowns in key markets.

The results are in stark contrast to last year when the pandemic hit and Eagers experienced the “most sustained drop in demand for new vehicles in our company’s 108 year history”.

But the company acted to preserve cash and the rebound happened. Australians started to spend again and cars were a key target of families willing to spend money again.

In its 2020 year, Eagers reported a net profit of $156 million on revenue of about $8.7 billion.