8:42 am, December 1, 2025
Dealer group Caffyns has slumped to a pre-tax loss in the first half of its financial year, with bosses bemoaning a ‘particularly challenging’ period for the retailer.
A financial report, published via the London stock exchange, shows that the car dealer made a loss-before-tax of £934,000 in the six months to the end of September.
The figure represents a major decline on the same period last year, when the dealer group made a pre-tax profit of £213,000. At the same time, underlying EBITDA was cut from £3m to £1.7m.
The documents also show a 2.7% decline in revenue, with turnover dropping from £137.74m to £133.95m.
Bosses say that the firm has responded to the slump by making a number of ‘operational changes’, which they now hope will help steer the company back in the right direction.
These changes have included closing the group’s Lotus site in Lewes, which has now been consolidated into its Ashford showroom.
Simon Caffyn, chief executive, said: ‘The motor retail market was particularly challenging in the half year to 30 September. We have responded by making a number of operational changes to improve performance.’
Elsewhere, the company said that its struggles were largely a result of reduced new car demand over recent months.
The firm reported a 14% drop off in new car deliveries, which was not helped by a 1% decline in used car sales as well.
Executives also admitted that a number of the firm’s brands performed ‘behind the UK market’ in the period covered by the documents.
Meanwhile, gross margins fell by £0.6m, or 3%, in a bruising set of accounts for the Sussex-based group.
Despite this, there were some reasons to be cheerful, amid a growth in revenue and profit from used car sales and aftersales activities.
Those at the top say they remain confident in the company’s long-term prospects and signed off on an interim dividend of 5p per ordinary share.
You can see the full report here.
