12:54 pm, September 22, 2022
Directors at long-running Ford dealer Frank G. Gates Limited said they were ‘extremely pleased’ with its 2021 financial performance, after an ‘arduous year for the automotive retail industry’.
Accounts filed on Companies House reveal the 102-year-old business – which trades under the Gates brand for its vehicle sales – finished last year with a pre-tax profit of £6.37m.
The result was up significantly on the £2.4m pre-tax profit Gates made in 2020.
Turnover was up a healthy £19m to £193m while operating profit jumped from £2.41m in 2020 to £6.36m in 2021.
New vehicle sales were down by 13 per cent despite an 11 per cent improvement in commercial vehicle sales, Gates said, while used car volumes were up by four per cent.
Shareholders received an interim of £7.1m in 2021 having received nothing in 2020.
Covid-19 government grants amounted to £559,593 for 2021, down significantly on the £2.39m the business received the year before.
Directors said: ‘The current year continues to offer challenging trading conditions, in both our sector and the UK economy, with new vehicle supply issues, production concerns, increasing inflation, exponential costs of energy, fuel and interest rates, and a shortage of skilled staff.
‘However, the company has taken advantage of the opportunities provided by the gradual remedy of used vehicle pricing and sustained strong vehicle margins, whilst benefitting from cost measures realised in previous years.
‘Performance in all areas of our business, during the first half of 2022, continue to overachieve against budget and that reported in 2021.’
Gates operates six Ford car showrooms and three Transit centres across Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex.
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