10:47 am, January 15, 2021
Carwow managed to cut its group losses in 2019 by more than a million pounds to £13.8m.
The UK-based car buying comparison site’s newly published group accounts for the year ending December 31, 2019 show it made a pre-tax loss of £13,849,088, against a loss of £15,262,378 the year before.
Turnover, meanwhile, for the company – which has operations in the UK, Germany and Spain – rose from a restated £19,551,305 in 2018 to £21,337,354 in 2019.
In the report, director James Hind, pictured, said the results reflected increased investment plus ‘improved operational efficiency’.
Revenue within the UK arm of the business dropped from £16.9m in 2018 to £15.3m in 2019, but revenue in Germany nearly doubled from £2.6m to £4.7m, while Spain’s first full year of operating brought in £1.3m.
He added: ‘The UK business achieved significant improvements in profitability during the year by focusing on operating margin over revenue growth.
‘The increase in revenue in overseas territories has been driven by increasing awareness and adoption of the carwow platform by consumers, dealers and OEMs.’
Carwow scored considerable success on YouTube in 2019, more than doubling its number of subscribers from 1.5m the year before to 3.1m.
Meanwhile, the number of unique monthly visits to its UK website rose on average from 2.2m to 2.4m
Despite the pandemic, Carwow has fared well in 2020, saying it accounted for one in 12 car sales last year, as reported by Car Dealer.
In the report, Hind comments on how the pausing of production affected supply but adds that ‘current levels of new consigned stock sold by dealers suggest there are adequate levels of stock in the market to fulfil consumer demand’.
Turning to Brexit, he says: ‘The continuing effects…and the impact that new trade deals negotiated with members of the European Union will have on the automotive industry in the UK is currently unknown.’
However, he warns ‘there is a possibility that the environment in which Carwow operates will decline’.
Car Dealer has contacted Carwow for a comment.
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