1:05 pm, November 10, 2021
Cazoo saw its total loss deepen massively last year to £102.7m from £18m in 2019, its latest accounts show.
The online retailer’s financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2020 – just published on Companies House – show that its total comprehensive loss was £102.687m versus £17.964m in 2019.
Meanwhile, its adjusted EBITDA went from minus £16.7m to minus £81.2m, while revenue rose from £1.2m to £162.2m over the same period.
It made a gross loss per unit of £229 in 2020, which was a big improvement on the £9,883 it lost per vehicle the year before.
However, it emphasised that the difference was because it only started in December 2019, meaning there was just one month of post-launch sales for that year against purchases ahead of the launch.
Cazoo sold 107 vehicles in the last month of 2019, whereas it shifted 12,097 during the whole of 2020.
It added: ‘The decrease in gross loss per unit in 2020 was primarily due to a significant increase in retail units sold, refurbishment efficiencies, reducing days to sale and growing ancillary services.’
The accounts and accompanying reports were published under the name of Cazoo Holdings Ltd and were said to be for its subsidiaries as well, aka Cazoo. It’s the first time that consolidated statements have been issued for Cazoo.
Over the year, Cazoo bought Imperial Car Supermarkets for £26.9m in July 2020 and closed it as a business in October of that year.
The purchase gave it leasehold and freehold sites to accelerate the roll-out of its customer centres, from where cars can be collected.
Since the end of the reporting period, it has bought subscription services Drover in the UK for £58.8m and Cluno in Germany for £60.4m.
It has also brought the refurbishment of vehicles in-house by acquiring Smart Fleet Solutions for £23.1m plus £15.9m of its freehold property, as well as SMH Fleet Solutions – which also carries out vehicle movements – for some £70m, and bought Cazana for £25m.
In addition, it floated on the New York Stock Exchange following a business combination with special purpose acquisition company Ajax I – the new holding company is based in the Cayman Islands.
Cazoo has also agreed to buy Vans365 for £6.5m, subject to FCA approval.
Average monthly unique users of its website for 2020 was 763,000 versus 195,000 in 2019, it said, attributing the rise to marketing investment and better brand recognition.
As of December 31, 2020, its total assets stood at £507.7m, versus £106.7m in 2019, thanks to two funding rounds of, respectively, £125.1m and £231.6m.
Image: Cazoo
