8:17 am, June 19, 2023
Turnover and pre-tax profit were down for family-owned Donnelly Group last year, but directors hailed 2022 as ‘very satisfactory’.
Newly published accounts on Companies House show key financial indicators in 2022 slipped on the year before, and that the firm is warning 2023 will be ‘challenging’.
Pre-tax profit for the Northern Ireland-based dealer group soared to £5.9m in 2021, but were pegged to £5.3m last year.
Profit after tax came to £4.14m, down on the £4.83m the year before.
Turnover, meanwhile, dropped from £264.3m to £252.3m.
Directors said: Whilst reported net profit showed a decline versus 2021 of £0.6m, when adjusted for one off supports in 2021 underling trading profit improved by 10 per cent year-on-year.’
Last year also saw Donnelly Group reduce its bank debt (£3.3m) and overall net debt (£5.8m), which were ‘slightly’ ahead of planned reductions.
Directors added: ‘2022 was a very satisfactory year, despite challenging economic conditions impacting on consumer demand and continued supply chain disruption in the delivery of new vehicles across all manufacturers.’
Donnelly Group represents 15 new car brands across nine locations, and operates used car showrooms under the 2 Good 2 Auction and Motorstore names.
The company warned 2023 could be a challenging year, particularly with the sale of hybrid and electric cars due to Northern Ireland’s charging infrastructure ‘not at the level required to support the technology transition’.
Directors said: ‘We consider that this technology transition will dampen the overall demand for new vehicles and the market in Northern Ireland in the medium term will be 30 per cent lower than the historical trends.
‘We expect 2023 to be a challenging year, with supply contrasts and the shortage of available used car stock as a consequence continuing to dampen the market already impacted by the economic impact of high inflation and rising interest rates.’
The report added that the first four months of trading in 2023 are ahead of expectations.
