7:28 am, June 9, 2024
Fish Brothers suffered a pre-tax profit drop of nearly 30% last year on turnover that rose by more than a fifth.
Newly published accounts – filed under the company name of Fish Brothers (Swindon) Limited – show that it made £2.816m profit before tax during the year ended December 31, 2023, which was down from £3.953m the year before.
That was on turnover that went up from £205.117m to £248.492m.
The new and used car dealer group holds the franchises for Cupra, Dacia, Honda, Kia, Lexus, Nissan, Renault, Seat, Skoda, Toyota and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, having parted company with Peugeot during the year.
All of the family-owned Car Dealer Top 100 company’s showrooms are in Swindon, and together they shifted 7,811 new and 2,877 used cars versus 5,663 and 3,019 respectively in 2022, with return on sales dropping from 2.0% to 1.1%.
The average number of employees fell from 315 to 309 during the year.
The directors’ remuneration rose from £219,000 to £245,000, with the highest-paid director’s standing at £133,000.
A final dividend of £1m was paid for the year – a drop on 2022’s figure of £1,250,000.
In the accompanying strategic report, signed on behalf of the board by company secretary Gregory Hughes, the company said that supply issues over new cars were continuing, while supply chain logistic problems for new vehicles and component parts were also affecting the industry.
The directors added in their report: ‘Current activity continues to be strong with the 2024 budget and 2025 forecast demonstrating continued growth.’
Main image via Google Street View shows Fish Brothers’ Skoda showroom in Swindon
