8:04 am, October 2, 2022
Vehicle supermarket chain Available Car saw its pre-tax profit rise to just over £2m last year.
Its accounts for the year ended December 31, 2021 just published on the Companies House website show the figure went up from £1.218m in 2020 to £2.095m – a 72 per cent increase.
Operating profit, meanwhile, rose by 35 per cent from £2.3m to £3.1m.
That was on a turnover of £329.66m, which itself was 30 per cent up on 2020’s figure of £254.02m.
The Car Dealer Top 100 firm received £1.044m under the furlough scheme last year versus £4.518m in 2020, and saw its average monthly number of employees fall by 60 to 628.
Available Car, which is part of the family-owned Graham Bell Group of companies, has used car supermarkets at Castle Donington (pictured via Google Street View) – its original site, which opened in January 2002 – Sutton-in-Ashfield, Cannock, Leeds and Sheffield.
Together, they hold 4,650 cars.
The lockdown during the first quarter of 2021 had a huge impact on sales versus pre-pandemic years, said director Graham Bell in the accompanying strategic report, dated September 29, 2022.
However, it continued online sales, home delivery, plus click-and-collect, and made ‘a huge investment in staff and training’ to make sure it was best placed to serve customers by keeping staff prepared for traditional retail.
Looking ahead, Bell said: ‘There are significant challenges left to deal with because of the Covid-19 virus that is still causing supply issues.
‘The impacts were so significant that these will continue to test the industry in different ways throughout the coming years.
‘We see 2022 being an extremely challenging marketplace. In addition, we are seeing continued increases in fuel and energy prices, interest rates and national insurance contributions which affect both the business and our customers.’
He added: ‘We have further committed to a large staff training programme as we believe this will benefit Available Car and continue to strengthen our staff for the future and allow them to provide a high level of customer service that has made Available Car the success story it is today.’
