9:00 am, November 7, 2024
Auto Trader Group turned in a strong first half with solid increases in revenue and profits, despite its Autorama business continuing to return a loss.
Revenue for the listed group grew by 8% to £302.5m in the six months to September 30. Operating profit increased 14% and basic earnings per share rose 22%.
Auto Trader revenue, specifically, rose by 9% to £283.5m. Operating profit rose 7% to £197.5m, and operating profit margin fell one percentage point to 70%.
The company said this rise in Auto Trader revenue was underpinned by continued dealer revenue growth, including ‘better than expected growth’ in dealer forecourts which rose 2%.
However, this growth came from smaller dealers, and, coupled with increasingly challenging ‘market dynamics’ of strong demand and tight supply, saw ‘lower than expected’ growth in Auto Trader’s revenue per retailer figure – it stood at 6.3%/£169 to £2,852 per month during the period.
The group managed to narrow losses at its Autorama division from a £5.6m loss in the first half of 2024, to a £2.8m loss in this first half of 2025.
Revenue at stood at £19.0m – down 10% on H1 2024’s £21.1m – while Autorama delivered 3,180 vehicles during the period, comprising 841 cars, 2,018 vans and 321 pick-ups.
Auto Trader Group said that during the first half, it had focussed on ‘preparing to scale profitably’ Autorama while it ‘sees relatively low transaction volumes’.
Commenting on the results, Auto Trader CEO Nathan Coe said: ‘As well as the hard work and commitment from everyone right across our business, I believe the performance of the last six months is testament to the partnerships we’ve built with our customers.
‘We have continued to invest in our platform to improve the car buying and selling experience and to ensure we remain the most effective and efficient way to source, price and sell vehicles for our retailer partners. As a result, we are working in partnership with a record number of retailers and manufacturers.
‘In the last few months alone, we’ve launched our largest ever brand marketing campaign, strengthened our partnership with What Car? into new cars and we’ve also just introduced a new suite of AI-powered solutions, Co-Driver.
‘Encompassing the full scale of our unique data and consumer insights, it marks the pinnacle of more than a decade of investment, and I believe it has the ability to revolutionise automotive retailing.’
Looking ahead he said: ‘The industry faces several forces of change that are fuelling uncertainty and creating complexity for retailers.
‘Our performance means we can continue to invest to build the best team, create market leading technology, data and tools to help all of our partners to navigate this changing context.’
