BRUSSELS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Belgian auto specialist D'Ieteren expects its profit before tax to jump more than 10 percent this year after a slump in 2014 and has decided to keep the dividend for 2014 at 0.8 euros, the company said on Thursday.
D'Ieteren, which sells Volkswagen range cars in Belgium and also repairs windshields, warned in December that it would be taking 98 million euros ($110 million) of impairments related to its Belron windshield operations in Britain and China.
"D'Ieteren Auto is setting up a new structure for the distribution network and is investing in its own dealership network in Brussels, while Belron is implementing profitability improvement measures. The group expects its current result before tax, group's share, to be up in excess of 10 percent in 2015," the company said.
The 2014 consolidated profit before taxes and excluding unusual items was 160.9 million euros, down 11.7 percent on 2013. Because of the unusual items, mainly non-cash impairment charges and the restructuring costs at Belron, the consolidated result before tax was a loss of 5.3 million.
While profits at the unit that sells cars rose 11.5 percent in 2014 to 52.5 million euros, the profit of the windshield unit fell almost 20 percent to 104.7 million euros. Belron operates under brand names such as Autoglass and Carglass. ($1 = 0.8930 euros) (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Liisa Tuhkanen/Ruth Pitchford)