8:00 am, November 8, 2022
The UK’s most profitable car dealer group Arnold Clark is believed to have snapped up dealer group Cars 2 Limited.
The purchase is a bold move south of the border for the Scottish group which made £263m profit in 2021.
Cars 2 is a new and used car dealership group predominantly based in Yorkshire.
It represents Hyundai, Seat, Nissan, Renault, Dacia, Fiat, Abarth and MG.
The group has dealerships in Wakefield, Bradford, Barnsley and Huddersfield.
Staff at the dealerships have been informed the deal has been done and employees at two of the Cars 2 sites confirmed to Car Dealer Magazine the rumours were true when we called.
Directors at Cars 2 and Arnold Clark have been contacted for comment.
David Kendrick, partner at UHY Hacker Young, who advises on sales of businesses like this, believes this will be part of a string of acquisitions for big dealer groups in the coming weeks.
He said: ‘Cars 2 has grown substantially in recent times and represents some solid brands in good locations.
‘Arnold Clark haven’t bought anything for a long while now so it’s not a surprise they have made an acquisition with further substantial used car potential.
‘They need to spend their huge profits on something ultimately! This could be a busy few weeks of deals being announced, I think.’
Cars 2 started as an independent, family-run business with a single dealership in Barnsley.
It now also runs alongside its franchises business the Pure Cars used brand which sells luxury cars.
In its latest accounts for the year ending December 31, 2021, Cars 2 saw car sales turnover increase 67 per cent to £124m (2020: £76m).
Profit for the year was £5.8m, up from £2.3m the year before.
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