8:58 am, September 24, 2026
Bosses at Eastern Western Motor Group say they are ‘pleased’ with the firm’s 2025 performance, despite another year of dipping profits.
The West Lothian-based car dealer has reported a drop in pre-tax profit for the second year running, with turnover also down as a result of Mini and Honda switching to agency sales.
Accounts recently filed via Companies House show that dealer group’s ultimate holding company – Eastern Holdings Limited – made a profit-before-tax of £11.33m in the 12 months to the end of last December.
That is down by around 15% on 2024’s £13.25m profit, as well as the £18.92m the firm bagged in 2023.
Turnover also dipped from £920.81m to £892.51m with bosses pointing the finger of blame firmly at the feet of partners’ new agency models.
Despite this, the directors say the firm says that every one of its franchise sites outperformed wider industry averages in the new and used car markets.
It comes amid significant change within the firm’s dealer network, kicking off with the move to close its Harley-Davidson and Kawasaki franchises in April.
The group also continued to invest in its network by opening three Chery franchises, followed by a fourth in early 2026, marking Eastern Western’s first foray into the world of Chinese cars.
Elsewhere, the outfit continued to strengthen its ties with more established European brands, including a multi-million-pound deal to acquire Audi sites in Edinburgh and Stirling from Lookers.
The move, described by insiders as a ‘challenging acquisition’ brought an additional 125 employees into the business. Eastern Western splashed out £8.1m on the acquisitions themselves, before ploughing a further £2.9m into leasehold improvements.
It separately bought a 33,000 sq ft industrial unit for £2.4m to be used as an aftersales centre at Halbeath, close to its Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Volkswagen dealerships.
Following a year of such significant investments, cash held at the bank fell from £12.2m at the end of 2024 to £5.6m a year later, although vehicle funding did increase by £33.7m to £105.6m.
Despite the fall in pre-tax profit, Eastern Western maintained its dividend at £3m for the year – the same amount paid in 2024.
Reflecting on the year, secretary Nasser Mohammed said: ‘In 2025, the motor group’s turnover decreased mainly due to Mini and Honda moving from a wholesale model to an agency model resulting in a “sale” with no turnover and a handling fee being paid rather than a traditional gross profit being created by virtue of the sale.
‘Also, in April 2025 we closed our Harley-Davidson and Kawasaki franchises.’
He added: ‘New and used margins continued to remain strong during the period. The board are very focussed on margin control and target ourselves to be well ahead of the manufacturers inter firm comparison averages.
‘We are pleased to report every one of our franchises outperformed this average on used vehicle gross profit.’
What else is in the accounts?
The accounts show that the group’s investment programme came as it faced rising operating costs, with administrative expenses increasing by £3.3m to £104.5m.
The group’s average workforce also increased from 1,624 to 1,674 during the year, while total payroll costs rose from £71.9m to £75.8m.
At the same time, directors’ remuneration fell from £3.12m to £2.84m.
The group also said technician shortages continued to push up productive staff costs and warned that it would have to continue recruiting from outside its usual area in 2026.
Mohammed added: ‘There is a shortage of skilled technicians, and this continues to drive increases in the cost of productives, with further increases in 2025 after large increases in costs during 2024.
‘This looks likely to continue in 2026 as we have recruited technicians from outwith our geographic territory.’
Eastern Western ended the year with 48 franchises representing Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Mini, Audi, Volkswagen,, Lexus, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Honda, Maxus, Smart and Chery.