9:09 am, June 12, 2024
New and used car dealer group JCT600 suffered a double whammy of falling turnover and pre-tax profit last year, latest figures show.
The Car Dealer Top 100 firm, which represents 18 brands at 50-plus sites in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and the north-east of England, revealed in its newly published accounts for the year ended December 31, 2023 that turnover was down 2.8% from £1.45bn to £1.41bn.
Meanwhile, profit before tax at the Bradford-headquartered company fell by 16.3% from £43.06m to £36.03m.
Gross profit margin rose from 12.6% to 13% but return on sales dipped from 3% to 2.6%.
In the accompanying strategic report, signed on behalf of the board by director Nigel Shaw, the company said: ‘The move in 2023 to an agency model by Mercedes-Benz reduced group turnover by £64m.’
The directors added that as part of a group reorganisation, it ‘relinquished’ its Vauxhall and Peugeot franchises in Castleford and Menston.
New vehicle turnover adjusted for agency sales rose by 13% and aftersales turnover was up by 7.3%, but used vehicle turnover fell by 8.1%.
But in spite of the ‘challenging’ UK economy, after adjusting turnover for agency sales to a like-for-like basis, JCT600 said it delivered record sales of £1.414m versus 2022’s figure of £1.383m.
During the year, it ploughed £4.8m into a freehold site in Doncaster to redevelop the Audi showroom, as well as £3.3m on a freehold site in York that’ll be turned into a multi-franchise vehicle preparation and accident repair centre.
The average monthly number of employees across the group fell from 2,199 to 2,133, with most of the decline occurring in sales and distribution
The directors received £1.528m in emoluments – down from 2022’s £1.83m – with the highest-paid director given £477,000 as opposed to £543,000 the year before.
Equity dividends paid 52p per share versus 79p in 2022.
Pictured at top via Google Street View is JCT600’s head office in Bradford
