8:33 am, March 5, 2024
Bosses at dealer group Inchcape have toasted another ‘excellent’ year after the firm saw profits rise in 2023.
The Car Dealer Top 100 outfit has today (Mar 5) posted its preliminary results for the 12 months ending December 31, 2023.
The figures, published via the London Stock Exchange, show a rise in pre-tax profit and revenue for the group.
According to the documents, Inchcape made an adjusted pre-tax profit of £502m last year – a 35% rise on 2022’s £373m.
The impressive result was achieved against a revenue of £11.4bn, which was 41% up on the £8.1bn recorded in the previous year’s accounts.
Insiders say the achievement has largely been driven by a strong performance in the Americas, where the group has improved its market share, largely as a result of its acquisition of Derco, the largest automotive distributor in Latin America.
The deal has given Inchcape major operations in Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia but directors remain concerned about a slowdown in other ‘weak’ markets in the final quarter of the year.
Elsewhere in the results, dividend per share rose by 18% to 33.9p.
Confirming the preliminary results, Duncan Tait, group CEO, said: ‘Inchcape produced a strong set of results in FY 2023, with an excellent performance across all our regions.
‘The business continues to deliver, with double-digit organic revenue growth, margin progression, EPS growth and high levels of cash generation.
‘We maintained positive momentum across APAC, supported by acquisitions, while Europe & Africa performed strongly, despite muted demand.
‘The Americas produced growth in many markets, supported by Derco’s performance, and while some markets became increasingly challenging, we continued to take market share across the region.
‘We made substantial strategic progress last year, with a record number of distribution contracts won.
‘These contracts, along with our investment in acquisitions, will continue to support the business as we grow in existing markets by building market share, expand into new markets, and develop our mobility company partner portfolio to drive growth.
‘With our global market leadership position, disciplined approach to capital allocation, digital and data capabilities to support our mobility company partners and our highly cash-generative characteristics, Inchcape is well positioned for the future, and we remain confident about the medium to long-term outlook for the group.’
The results will bring some much-needed good news to the embattled Tait, who has recently found himself embroiled at the centre of the Post Office scandal.
In January, he apologised after admitting to making a controversial statement about the Horizon computer system, while in his previous role with Fujitsu.
Last month the company also confirmed it could offload all its UK dealerships but insisted that a sale ‘isn’t certain’.
