6:15 am, October 8, 2022
Masters of Beckenham saw its pre-tax profit fall last year from nearly £5m to just over £1.5m.
In its accounts for the year ended December 31, 2021, just posted on Companies House, profit fell from £4.96m in 2020 to £1.54m – a drop of 69 per cent.
That was on turnover of £46.38m, which was a nine per cent rise on 2020’s figure of £42.37m.
The family-owned Car Dealer Top 100 firm, which was founded in 1952, received nearly a quarter of a million pounds in furlough grants in 2021 (£244,585), versus £592,127 in 2020.
The average monthly number of employees across the group fell from 110 to 85 between 2020 and 2021.
Director Brian Cotton said in the accompanying strategic report that the lockdowns caused operation problems but business volumes rose during the second half of the year to bring the results in line with what was achieved in 2020.
He added that ‘a thorough review’ in 2022 had led to the company giving up three of its four franchises – they were Mazda, MG and Renault – leaving the group with just Kia now.
The vacant properties in Beckenham and Croydon have either been included as part of the group’s investment property portfolio for future rental or have had their leases surrendered.
Although Masters has shed three franchises, it still offers an aftersales service for Mazda, MG and Mitsubishi.
Image via Google Street View
