8:47 am, November 5, 2025
Family-run used car supermarket Hilton Garage has reported a major rise in profits, following back-to-back years of decline.
Accounts, recently filed via Companies House, show that Hilton Garage Limited made a pre-tax profit of £3.99m in the 12 months to the end of May.
The result represents a 214% rise on the previous year’s £1.27m, marking the first year-on-year improvement for the firm since its 2022 accounts.
In a strategic report, included in the documents, director David Manning said the board was ‘pleased to report another year of strong trading performance’.
The strong showing also included a rise in turnover, with revenues increasing from £121.97m in 2024 to £160m in 2025.
Meanwhile, the company ended the accounting period with fixed assets of £7m and total assets of £22.19m, compared to £7m and £20.79m respectively.
Despite this, the firm’s cash in the bank did shrink from £7m to £5.03m – which bosses say is the result of the purchase of a ‘large storage facility’ which has allowed the group to increase stock from 1,200 to 2,000 cars.
Reflecting on the year as a whole, Manning wrote: ‘The company is one of the UK’s largest car supermarkets, a family-run business operating from its large purpose-built site in the East Midlands.
‘With over 50 years’ experience and a highly trusted reputation, the company prides itself on working hard to deliver leading class value and service.
‘The directors are pleased to report another year of strong trading performance in what is a highly competitive market.’
Speaking to Car Dealer, fellow director George Manning added: ‘We are very proud of a standout year in the car supermarket sector.
‘We have recently acquired a storage facility to bring our total stock up to 2000 cars and have further potential acquisitions in the pipeline as we continue to establish ourselves as a market leader in our sector.
‘All acquisitions and stock increases are to be funded by ourselves – without the need for stocking facilities, and the heavy interest costs that come with it – this continues to give us a competitive advantage in tumultuous economic circumstances.
‘Throughout the past four years, significant challenges have been faced in the automotive sector that have been widely reported.
‘We are very proud that Hilton Garage has been one of the few Car Supermarkets to consistently grow as a company, report healthy profits, and retain staff while many of our competitors have unfortunately posted heavy losses, redundancies or site consolidations.
‘As it stands, we are on track to sell 12,000 cars in 2025 from our single retail site, and we expect a substantial increase on this going into 2026.
‘We have consistently benefitted from having 80% of our stock fully prepared and available to drive away same day, something we are very proud of – and something we know many industry experts will appreciate as a very difficult task to maintain.
‘We hope to continue on this fantastic trajectory as we scale up for the future with the brilliant team of talented, hardworking people we are so lucky to have under our roof’
Throughout the year covered by the accounts, Hilton continued to grow, with its workforce swelling from an average of 110 employees to 124.
Along with much of the industry, the firm also saw staff costs rise from £4.32m to £5.33m. At the same time, directors remunerations came in at £120,192 – a small increase on the previous year.
At the end of the year, a total dividends of £67,500 was distributed among the shareholders.
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