8:04 am, May 23, 2025
Dealer group Dick Lovett saw its profits plummet last year as the firm ‘returned to the more traditional profitability levels of pre-Covid’.
Accounts recently published via Companies House show that the retailer’s parent company – Dick Lovett Companies Limited – made a pre-tax profit of £10.61m in the 12 months ending December 31, 2024.
The figure represents a hefty decline of 56.4% on the previous year’s result, when the group pocketed £24.35m.
Turnover was also down from £822.06m to £810.49m, as the firm dealt with a reduction in new and used car margins.
As a result, directors did not recommend payment of a final dividend.
Bosses say that the year was impacted by ‘economic uncertainty’, which had an effect on customer behaviour, but that did not stop the outfit from investing heavily in its dealer network.
Work included the completion of the Car Dealer Top 100 group’s new Porsche Newport dealership which opened in May of last year, replacing its existing Porsche Cardiff site.
Building is also underway of the outfit’s new Porsche Bristol site, which should be complete before the end of 2025.
Reflecting on the year, director Julian Winterburn wrote in the accounts: ‘2024 saw turnover reduce slightly from the prior year record, to a turnover of £810m, while the pre-tax profits of £10.6m were less than half of the prior year as the sector returned to the more traditional profitability levels of pre-Covid.
‘Reduction in new and used car margins affected profitability in the year, while economic uncertainty continued to impact customer confidence. Interest rates remained high impacting finance rates on new and used vehicles, and stocking charges.
‘In line with many businesses, resource was also a challenge given the limited labour market and therefore it has been essential that the group continues to invest significantly in training.
‘Despite the challenges in the year the business performed strongly due to the excellent team and the strength and resilience of the business.
‘Despite a significant investment programme on dealership redevelopment the cash position has remained positive throughout the year due to the strong trading performance of the group allowing investments to be funded by operational cash flow.
‘The increase in investment and net profit has resulted in a new record for net equity growing to £178.7m.’
Dick Lovett represents BMW, Mini, Porsche, Aston Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar and Ferrari at 20 sites across the South West and Wales.
Like the rest of the industry, the group faced rising overheads in 2024, with staff costs rising from £40.53m to £43.73m.
Meanwhile, directors’ remunerations dropped from £1.2m to £715,000.
