7:21 am, September 24, 2023
New and used car dealer group Yeomans suffered a 25.3 per cent drop in pre-tax profit last year to under £6.5m.
Its accounts for the year ended December 31, 2022, newly published on Companies House, show it made £6,418,844m, versus £8,600,667 in 2021.
That was on a turnover that soared by 30.5 per cent from £244,228,068 in 2021 to £318,762,689 last year, with the company attributing the increase to better new and used vehicle deliveries across existing operations, as well as from newly bought dealerships.
Gross profit margin fell by two percentage points to 12.4 per cent, though, which it said was because of vehicle margins returning to their pre-pandemic levels.
The Worthing-headquartered group, which is 45th in the current Car Dealer Top 100 of the UK’s most profitable dealerships, added that it was also hit by a fall in residual values of certain alternative fuel vehicles in the second half of 2022.
No government grants were received, although in 2021 it was given £657,672 under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Ordinary dividends totalling £2.605m were paid, but the directors said they didn’t recommend paying a further dividend.
The directors received £1.454m in remuneration – down on 2021’s £1.534m – with the highest-paid director getting £483,571, versus £694,571 the year before.
Yeomans has dealerships across Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey, Devon and Cornwall, representing Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Peugeot, Citroen, Hyundai, Vauxhall, Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen, and is one of the largest privately owned franchised motor dealerships in the south-west.
During the year, it made what it called a ‘significant expansion’, thanks to a number of acquisitions.
It increased its Nissan representation in the spring and summer, adding locations in Haywards Heath, Aldershot, and Basingstoke, while in November, it acquired nine franchise dealerships and two trade parts centres.
In the accompanying report, signed on the board’s behalf by director James Smith, Yeomans said it intended to strengthen its financial performance by focusing on customer retention in the vehicle and service departments as well as keeping a close eye on direct and indirect costs.
Yeomans also plans to continue expanding organically and by purchases if there are any suitable options.
The directors added that they aim to continue to improve profitability by achieving key performance targets within the franchises.
Pictured via Google Street View is Yeomans’ Skoda dealership in Helston
