8:05 am, October 14, 2026
The investment company behind Eden Automotive Group has seen profits bounce back strongly from a loss in 2024 as directors toasted a successful year.
In 2025, Eden Automotive Investments saw profit before tax jump to £4.3m after posting a loss of £154,000 the year before.
The turn around in fortunes at the business, led by industry veteran Graeme Potts, follows what he called his ‘annus horribilis’ in 2023.
Eden – which was started as a Vauxhall franchise – carried out major restructuring in 2023 and the firm said it had seen the benefit of that in 2024 and 2025.
Turnover for the group grew to £317.3m in 2025, up from £296.9m the year before.
Eden Automotive Investments is the parent group for the firm’s dealerships business and Razoom IT, which provides hardware and IT solutions to the automotive industry.
Accounts show Eden has added Leapmotor in Banbury, Reading, Swindon and Exeter and Mazda to an existing operation in Newbury.
Speaking on the Car Dealer Podcast, Potts said 2023 has been ‘an absolute disaster’ for his firm, which he started in 2008 after a career working for Reg Vardy and Inchcape.
He said: ‘It was an absolute disaster. It wasn’t really the culmination of a long-term trend, but the market had been difficult and, you know, I’m the head of the business. I take the blame. We got a number of things wrong.
‘I was determined that I wasn’t going to go into retirement with those numbers hanging over my head. We were going to turn things round. And that’s what the last two or three years have been about.’
Potts said he was forced to ‘unwind’ a number of investments the business had planned and close three underperforming dealerships.
The Eden CEO said he also had to cut staff numbers, including some senior leaders, to become a smaller team that was ‘welded together’.
He added: ‘We got an iron grip on liquidity, stock management, those kinds of things, and it wasn’t easy.
‘2023 was the aberration, 2024 was recovery, 2025 we need to get back to thinking of as the norm in our business.’
Potts told the podcast that the recovery had continued into 2026, but it had been tough this year too.
He said: ‘It’s still hard work and at this stage I would not be predicting that we’ll do better than last year, but it certainly will be a black number for Eden for 2026.’
In the investment business’ accounts, the firm said it faced a number of headwinds including reduced volume in Motability sales, the ZEV Mandate not ‘full aligning with consumer adoption’ and the ongoing impact on residual values of used cars from the Covid pandemic.
The firm added: ‘The group continues to maintain a strong focus on cost control and operational efficiency.
‘This remains particularly important given the additional cost pressures arising from increases in National Minimum Wage rates, business rates, the ongoing shortage of skilled technicians and higher-than-anticipated interest rates, all of which have contributed to higher direct and indirect operating costs.
‘Through disciplined cost management, the group has sought to mitigate the impact of these largely unavoidable cost increases on overall profitability.
‘The reorganisation has also enabled a strengthened focus on manufacturer relationships and regional representation, which has supported performance in 2025 and allowed the Group to maximise available commercial opportunities.’
The episode featuring Graeme Potts can be found on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or watch the video embedded above on YouTube.