3:45 pm, April 24, 2025
Profit for Group 1 Automotive’s UK operation more than doubled its profitin Q1 2025, up 109.6% to £162.9m ($217m).
It also saw total revenue for the quarter nearly double compared to the same quarter in 2024, up to £1.2bn ($1.6bn) by 92%.
Daryl Kenningham, Group 1’s president and CEO: ‘Our operational excellence was on display in the UK.
‘Ongoing efforts to integrate our recently acquired UK dealerships have improved UK SG&A as a percent of gross profit to 2024 pre-acquisition levels.
‘We are focused on optimising our UK portfolio, adding one Lexus and three Toyota dealerships and closing three sites during the current quarter.
‘Our UK team is making progress on effective cost management and will continue to explore ways to refine our cost structure.’
The growth in the UK market was headline news in the US based company’s announcement for its Q1 results, and acquisitions in the region have significantly grown its footprint.
It acquired Inchcape Retail in Q3 2024, adding 54 dealerships and a further five dealerships were added in Q4.
It added that ‘to rapidly integrate these acquisitions, we previously announced the initiation of a UK-wide restructuring plan, consisting of workforce realignment, strategic closing of certain facilities and systems integrations’, which were completed this quarter.
So far in Q2, it also acquired one Lexus and three Toyota dealerships from Johnsons Cars. It expects this will add $100m (£75m) to its annual revenues.
On top of this it has closed two of its UK Volkswagen dealerships during the quarter.
Globally, Group 1 saw revenue grow to $5.5bn, up 23.1%, and gross profit for the quarter was up 5.6% to $675m.
