10:44 am, November 10, 2015
ASE has released its monthly profitability statistics, showing a strong September and an increase in self registrations.
UK motor retailers enjoyed a relatively strong September on the whole, making an average of £73,000. This almost matched the performance in September 2014, when dealers made £74,200.
Whilst the profit level decreased slightly compared to last year, turnover continued to increase on the back of rising sales. This has produced a further drop in the return of sales percentage, currently standing at 1.3 per cent.
Overall dealership profit levels have slipped slightly for each of the past four months, with the rolling 12-month profit per site down to £207,500.
However, September saw increases in both new and used car sales compared to last year. New car sales were up five per cent during the month, with the year-to-date figure close to last year’s sales figure.
It was registration figures that saw the largest growth, though. They were up 8.6 per cent in the month and 7.1 per cent for the current year to date.
Used car sales were also on the rise in September, with a 7.4 per cent increase on 2014, with margins remaining strong at 12 per cent.
Overhead absorption has continued to fall towards 50 per cent as anticipated, with aftersales performance improvements proving unable to keep up with rising facility overheads. ASE expect this to continue into 2016.
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