8:52 am, September 19, 2024
Bosses at dealer group Vindis say they are ‘satisfied’ with the retailer’s performance last year, despite the outfit’s profits being almost completely wiped out.
Documents published this week via Companies House revealed that the Car Dealer Top 100 outfit made a pre-tax profit of £107,146 in the 12 months to December 31, 2023.
The figure represents a staggering 98.9% decrease on the previous year’s result of £10.28m but directors insist there are mitigating circumstances for the decline.
They say that 2022’s figures were skewed by the ‘sale and leaseback of five properties’, which resulted in ‘large gains’ of £8.69m.
However, this year’s result is still 98.5% on 2021, when the family-run retailer made a pre-tax profit of £7.35m.
The year before that, the group made a pre-tax loss of just under £1m.
In a statement included in the accounts, director Jamie Vindis also pointed to volatile market conditions and shrinking retail margins as areas which have caused headaches in the past year.
Despite this, the Cambridgeshire-based group did see an improvement in its annual turnover, which rose from £378.24m in 2022 to £436.05m in 2023.
Commenting on the year as a whole, Vindis said: ‘New car supply continued to improve as we started 2023 however nowhere near “normal” pre-pandemic levels.
‘We did start to see more discounting creep into the market as a direct result of supply vs demand which resulted in a small reduction in margin.
‘Used margins started the year well but as expected they fell away due to market pressures. We did manage ot increase our used sales compared to the previous year however with the softening of margin and the increased cost base (mainly due to stocking interest and vehicle depreciation) this led to a departmental loss within the year.
‘With no let-up in interest rates the group continues to come under pressure both directly from our vehicle stocking facility and indirectly through increased costs from suppliers.’
He added: ‘The group returned a profit before tax of £107k compared to £10.3m in 2022. Please note that 2022 figures included large gains due to the sale and leaseback of five properties.
‘The board were satisfied with this result considering the macro-economic climate and recognise and appreciate the effort made by al our staff in achieving this result.’
Crunching the numbers
The accounts show that of Vindis Group’s improved profit, the vast majority (£399.28m) came from the sale of goods – chiefly new and used vehicles.
Meanwhile, the rendering of services, including aftersales, generated £22.74m with the company receiving a total of £14.02m in commissions.
Elsewhere, staff numbers rose from 767 to 775, with wages and salaries costing a combined £28.12m.
At the top of the group, directors’ remuneration shrunk from £829,916 in 2022 to £676,597 in 2023.
Unlike in the previous year, when they received £480,000, equity holders were not paid a dividends this time out.
Looking forward, directors pledged to ‘continue to be the best we can’ in a ‘highly competitive’ UK car market.
Vindis said: ‘Despite the macro-economic environment creating difficult trading conditions, the strength of our brand portfolio will help to ensure the group is well placed to deal with any continuing challenges.
‘During the year the group continued to review all costs, overheads, and stocking policies to ensure that appropriate action is taken to match resources to demand whilst endeavouring to avoid compromising the customer experience.
‘The retail sector in which we operate remains marginal even in steady economic periods. The UK car market is highly competitive and the continued new car supply issues are challenging.
‘We have continued to closely monitor and control our cost base whilst investing in technology to become more efficient.
‘Trading this year continues to be tough with further cost base pressures, however new car supply continues to improve, and used car margins have strengthened.
‘We will continue to be the best we can be within the market that we operate in.’
