7:39 am, November 28, 2024
Arnold Clark has been named the most profitable car dealer group in the UK once again after chalking up £366.1m of earnings for 2023.
The Scottish car dealer group retained its place at the head of the Car Dealer Top 100, sponsored by Heycar, and produced by accountancy experts Cooper Parry, despite revenues falling to £4.96bn.
The first place comes despite Arnold Clark battling a devastating cyber attack at the start of 2023 which it admitted dented its performance.
Eddie Hawthorne, Arnold Clark chief executive, said: ‘The results over the past year are a testament to the hard work of our employees. I want to thank everyone throughout the Arnold Clark Group for everything they’ve done to contribute to our success.
‘The automotive sector is evolving and that brings significant challenges, but we can’t stand still.
‘By adding new services like our Charge network and new manufacturers to offer more choice, we’re in a position to provide customers with everything they need to keep them moving.
‘And all of that is underpinned by our founding principles; to provide genuine value for money and the highest levels of customer service.’
The Car Dealer Top 100, sponsored by Heycar, ranks dealers using EBITDA profit – Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation – as it’s the fairest comparison of the businesses’ profitability.
The details are taken from accounts filed with Companies House for 2023.
Dealers have seen their profit before tax numbers hit considerably in the last year after facing higher interest charges. While EBITDA numbers have remained largely sheltered, they have still taken a hit.
Total profit for our Top 100 for 2023 was £2.62bn, down on the £2.78bn registered in 2022 while turnover rose considerably to £88.8bn (2022: £73.7bn).
Revenues have rocketed for the largest dealer groups – Sytner, in second place in the list, saw revenues sore from £6.8bn in 2022, to £7.4bn last year.
The top 10 largest dealer groups in the UK accounted for an incredible £1.47bn of the total EBITDA profit generated by the Top 100.
Ian McMahon, compiler of the list at accountancy firm Cooper Parry, said: ‘When we got into the data we were surprised at how little EBITDA had fallen.
‘And if you’d have asked us two years ago what we thought would happen to turnover we’d have predicted it would fall because of agency sales, but it’s actually grown.’
Group 1 – the American giant that recently bought Inchcape’s dealerships – rose three places in the table to fourth. The Inchcape revenues or profits are not yet included in the numbers.
The list does not yet include Pendragon’s acquisition by Lithia either. During the year, the American firm sealed the deal to acquire Pendragon’s dealerships and combine them with those it bought from Jardine. The extent of that partnership will be fully seen in next year’s list and is likely to see them placed in the top three.
JTG Holdings – the firm behind Welsh car dealer group Gravells – was the highest riser on the list, jumping 46 places to 55th, with £7.2m profit for the year.
Partridge of Hampshire Holdings Ltd jumped 41 places to 63rd, while AWR Holdings Ltd, which owns the former West Way car dealerships, rose 33 places to 52nd.
Plummeting 60 places to 95th on the list was the troubled used car dealership group Motorpoint which achieved EBITDA profits of £3.4m. Accounts for the year showed a pre-tax loss of £300,000.
Other big fallers included Vindis Group, which dropped 34 places to 75th and Saxton Limited, which fell 34 places to 79th.
A special Car Dealer Live video discussing the Top 100 in more detail with compiler Ian McMahon from Cooper Parry is at top of this post.
