8:16 am, November 5, 2026
Autotrader has announced profits of almost £200m for the first half of the financial year, despite a ‘challenging’ period for the listings giant.
Accounts recently published via the London Stock Exchange, show that the automotive behemoth made a pre-tax profit of £191.2m in the six months to the end of September 2026.
While that figure is 4% down on the same period last year, the firm says it remains on course to hit its full-year profit forecasts.
Bosses also expect to meet revenue expectations, despite group turnover falling 1% to £313.4m in the first half of the year, compared with £317.7m 12 months ago.
The results come after Autotrader admitted it lost more retailers than usual between November 2025 and January 2026, although chief executive Nathan Coe said the majority had since returned.
Retailer revenue was down 1% to £250.8m, while the average number of retailer forecourts on the platform fell 2% year on year to 13,762.
Average live car listings also dipped 1% to 454,000.
In a statement issued to Car Dealer, Coe said: ‘Despite a challenging start to the year, we’ve worked closely with our retailer partners, listened to their feedback, and now the majority are back working with Autotrader.
‘We are totally focused on doing the best job we can for retailers, which starts with providing them with a platform that has 12 times more time spent on it than our nearest competitor.’
The company revealed that 54% of the retailers who left between November and January are now no longer trading. A further 29% have returned to the platform, while 17% have yet to rejoin.
Autotrader said retailer numbers had recovered during the half, rising from 13,600 at the end of March to 13,900 by the end of September.
Coe says the firm remains committed to improved engagement with dealers via its Customer Advisory Groups, which are now being used to help shape upcoming products.
‘This year we’ve put particular focus on more conversations with a broader range of retailers,’ he said.
‘Our Customer Advisory Groups are an important part of that, giving retailers a direct voice in how we develop our products and helping us understand the different needs of businesses across the market.’
What else is in the accounts?
Despite revenue overall taking a dip, the latest documents show that turnover from consumer services rose 9% to £22.9m, while manufacturer and agency revenue increased 18% to £8.5m. Private listings revenue was up 8% to £14.2m.
Autotrader also continued to expand its Deal Builder product, following last year’s backlash, with around 9,300 retailers using it at the end of September, compared with approximately 4,000 a year earlier. The number of live vehicles on the product almost doubled from 125,000 to 246,000.
The company is also investing in AI through its Autotrader Intelligence platform, which brings together more than 50 specialised AI models.
Coe said: ‘We’ve spent decades investing in technology and developing our proprietary data to help retailers make better-informed, more profitable decisions.
‘Autotrader Intelligence brings that expertise together with more than 50 specialised AI models to help our partners do more of the day-to-day work of running their businesses, far beyond advertising their stock.’
Autotrader said its AI tools had reduced the average time taken to list a vehicle from 28 minutes to five minutes.
Its Buying Signals product has been tested across around 800,000 enquiries, with the company claiming leads identified as high-intent convert into sales at twice the rate of a traditional enquiry.
Despite the fall in profits, Autotrader returned £330m to shareholders during the half through dividends and share buybacks.
It repurchased 55.7m shares for £269.6m and paid out £60.6m in dividends. The interim dividend was increased by 11% to 4.2p per share.
Net debt stood at £320m at the end of September, compared with a net cash position of £5.2m a year earlier.
Autotrader maintained its full-year profit guidance of between £395m and £415m, saying it expected revenue growth to accelerate during the second half.