8:22 am, July 2, 2025
Arnold Clark saw chunky rises in revenue and pre-tax profit last year, but warned that its finances will be clobbered by £30m thanks to tax increases announced in the Autumn Budget.
Latest accounts reveal the UK’s largest dealer group saw revenue rise by 3.8% to £5.2bn last year, while it performed a U-turn in pre-tax profit.
A 32.9% fall in pre-tax profit in 2023 over 2022’s performance (2023: £116m, 2022: £173m), due to a major cyber attack and escalating costs, was turned around last year, with Arnold Clark posting a 4.3% rise to £121m.
Shareholders’ funds were boosted by 4.2% to £1.6bn, underpinned by £498m (2023: £469m) of freehold land and buildings, and £131m (2023: £100m) of investment properties. Meanwhile, net funds available slipped by 1.1% to £359m.
New car sales soared by 21.2% to 64,215, ‘bolstered by a large increase in sales of new EVs’, said the firm, generating £1.2bn of revenue, while used car sales jumped by 2.1% to 191,699, adding £3.4bn to the pot.
The firm boosted its dividend payout from £15m to £21.9m, while emoluments rose from £10.6m in 2023 to £12.9m in 2024. The highest paid director’s salary rose by £2m to £6.3m.
The accounts were signed off by CEO and group MD Eddie Hawthorne, who retired from the business on March 28 after 27 years of service.
Despite the strong set of results for 2024, Hawthorne cautioned that future financial results will be impacted by tax changes in the Autumn Budget announced last October.
Hawthorne said: ‘The increase to Employer NIC rates, the lowering of the NIC threshold, and significant increases to national minimum wage rates, which come into effect in April 2025, are expected to increase our annual wage related costs by £30m.’
He added: ‘The doubling of Vehicle Excise Duty First Year Rates for new cars registered from April 1, 2025 is designed to incentivise the purchase of zero emission and electric cars, by widening the differentials between zero emission, hybrid and internal combustion cars. We will monitor the impact of these changes as the year progresses.’
Commenting on 2025’s performance so far, Hawthorne said: ‘We have started 2025 with positive momentum thanks to our Real Sale, which we launched in December, and have delivered over 49,000 vehicles in the first two months of the year.
‘We have also purchased two investment sites, in Cardiff and Norwich, and taken over the Edinburgh Vauxhall dealership.’
Last year saw Arnold Clark expand its dealership network considerably.
Eight locations across the UK were snapped up at a cost of £25m, increasing the firm’s representation of Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, MG, Fiat, Abarth, and Jeep, through new dealerships in Liverpool, Wirral, Cramlington, Kirkcaldy, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Sunderland and Wallsend.
It spent £29m on four ‘prestige marque’ showrooms in Ayr, Harrogate, Stockton and York, and a further £20m on ‘other commercial properties’.
Meanwhile, Arnold Clark said it ’embedded’ EV-focused brands BYD, Genesis, GWM Ora, Jaecoo and Omoda into its brand network structure. It has 10 locations for these brands, and chalked up 982 new car sales combined last year.
