11:44 am, October 14, 2026
Lithia UK’s pre-tax profits have almost trebled to £60m as the American-owned car dealer giant continues to improve performance.
New accounts filed with Companies House show that the group, which owns the Stratstone and Jardine Motors businesses, recorded a 176% increase in pre-tax profit for the year ended December 31, 2025, up from £21.7m the previous year.
The improvement came despite revenue falling 2.3% from £5.48bn to £5.36bn, while overall vehicle sales remained largely unchanged.
The group sold 73,661 new retail vehicles during the year, up 0.3%, alongside 107,533 used retail vehicles, an increase of 0.9%.
However, the accounts reveal a substantial improvement in underlying dealership profitability following the changes introduced since Lithia’s acquisitions of Pendragon and Jardine Motors.
On a like-for-like basis, motor retail profit before tax rose 33% from £28.1m to £37.4m across dealerships trading throughout both 2024 and 2025.
The comparison includes January 2024, when Pendragon was still under its previous ownership, to provide a full 12-month comparison.
The directors said the improvement covered 20 different brand representations operating from 124 locations.
In their strategic report, they said: ‘The directors are pleased to report that following the actions taken since acquisition of the two main groups and under the stewardship of the new parent, the Group’s underlying trading results are improving.
‘This is a result of improved common processes, sharing of best practice leading to improved margin retention, better utilisation of the Group’s size to secure improved procurement terms and streamlining of costs and duplicated costs.’
The group said that despite a difficult 2025 for some manufacturers, the directors were satisfied that the results demonstrated strong underlying
improvements in trading performance.
Motor retail operating profit before other income and expenses increased 27.6% from £52.2m to £66.6m, lifting the division’s operating margin from 1.0% to 1.3%.
Across the wider group, operating profit rose from £73.6m to £101.2m, while profit after tax climbed from £12.2m to £47.3m.
The increase in group pre-tax profits also benefited from a rise in its share of profits from associated businesses, which increased from £1.4m to £13.6m.
The accounts represent the first consolidated financial statements prepared by Lithia UK Holding Limited, with comparative figures for 2024 prepared retrospectively.
During 2025, Lithia continued its expansion in the UK with the acquisition of Hatfields Group, the Jaguar Land Rover dealer business operating across northern England.
The directors said the acquisition represented a significant investment as the business continued to pursue profitable growth in the UK market.
The group also declared and paid a £60m dividend to its US parent company during the year, which it said was to reduce the initial capitalisation of the business following changes in its associated investment arrangements.
However, performance across the group’s leasing operation was less positive.
Like-for-like pre-tax profit in the leasing business fell from £13.2m to £6.9m, with the directors blaming a weaker used car market and an increase in electric vehicle returns affected by falling residual values.
The group said it had taken action to mitigate the problems and was targeting a return to improved profitability in the division.
Looking ahead, the directors said they remained confident that further improvements could be achieved during 2026.
They said: ‘The directors are confident that following the continued focus on operating a profitable store portfolio with an efficient cost base, the Group is well positioned to continue to improve underlying levels of trading profitability from its motor retail interests in 2026.’