11:42 am, October 7, 2024
Cathedral Motor Company Limited has posted its latest set of accounts, showing the business made a £1.3m profit before tax in 2023.
Turnover at the business increased slightly from the previous 12 months, up to £188.8m from £183.8m, but profit fell from £3m to £1.3m.
The car dealer group sells new and used vehicles under the name Arbury, with brands including Nissan, Peugeot, Fiat, Skoda and more under its operation.
During the year ending December 31, 2023, it sold a total of 4,359 new and 4,701 used vehicles.
However, it comments that it saw a drop in gross margins and combined with increased expenses meant profitability dropped 26.2% in the vehicle sales department.
In aftersales the company saw profitability increase 3.1% with service hours up 3.5% and turnover from parts sales also up 9.7%.
Directors wrote: ‘2023 saw some stability return to the companies supply chain with both new vehicles and spare parts becoming more readily available.
‘Throughout the year differing challenges however presented themselves with high inflation, increasing interest rates and a cost-of-living crisis all contributing to suppressing a market fragile in its recovery from the pandemic crisis and the continuing war in Ukraine.
‘These factors contributed to an environment in which the cost base of the business incurred significant increases.
‘Managing this and the resulting increase in labour costs became two of the biggest challenges the business faced.’
