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Carwow plunges to £15.9m pre-tax loss as overseas investments take their toll

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Time 12:31 pm, September 25, 2019

CARWOW more than doubled its pre-tax loss last year to £15.856m after major expansion abroad.

In its annual report and financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018, which were filed with Companies House this week, the online marketplace for new and used cars said the results reflected its ‘significant investment’ in expanding its operations in Germany plus entering the Spanish market and establishing a subsidiary in France – currently inactive. The company’s pre-tax loss for 2017 was £7.855m.

Its turnover rose by 28 per cent to £19.551m, which it said was ‘driven by increasing awareness and adoption of the Carwow platform by both dealers and consumers’.


UK revenue increased by 17 per cent to £16.9m, and unique monthly visits to the UK Carwow website went up on average by 16 per cent to 2.2m.

In the strategic report, Carwow – which was launched in 2010 by James Hind and Alexandra Margolis, who were joined at the top by David Santoro the following year – stressed that it had ‘sufficient cash balances and access to finance to cover foreseeable needs, and seeks to mitigate liquidity risk through management of these’.

However, it also gave a stark warning, saying: ‘The continuing effects of Brexit and the impact that new trade deals negotiated with members of the European Union will have on the automotive industry in the UK is currently unknown, and there is a possibility that the environment in which Carwow operates will materially decline.’


Pictured are David Santoro, left, Alexandra Margolis and James Hind

MORE: Watchdog rules Carwow and Motorline ads are misleading

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MORE: Carwow raises £30m to accelerate growth 

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Car Dealer has been covering the motor trade since 2008 as both a print and digital publication. In 2020 the title went fully digital and now provides daily motoring updates on this website for the car industry. A digital magazine is published once a month.



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