On the Thursday before Britain went into lockdown, Daksh Gupta, chief executive of Marshall Motor Holdings, toured some of his company’s 132 dealerships, holding all-hands meetings.
“Retrospectively, it was the wrong thing to do,” he admits, although he insists social distancing was enforced. “But it had a profound affect. People were clearly anxious.”
Gupta, 49, and his senior staff were mulling over shuttering the £2.3bn-a-year business as the scale of Covid-19 was becoming apparent. The chief executive wanted to understand the mood of the firm’s 4,300 staff.
Marshall Motor Holdings Plc (LON:MMH), together with its subsidiaries, engages in retailing passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the United Kingdom. It sells new and used vehicles; and provides after sales services, such as servicing, body shop repairs, and parts sales.