1:12 pm, January 25, 2023
American car dealer giant Group 1 Automotive – owner of 204 dealerships of which more than 70 are in the UK – has posted a record fourth quarter and 2022 financial results.
The Fortune 300 car dealer posted a profit of £2.4bn ($3bn) for last year, on revenues of £13.1bn ($16.2bn) – an increase of 20.3 per cent and 21.5 per cent respectively over 2021’s results.
In the UK last year, it saw gross profit increase by nine per cent to £310m ($383m) while revenue was up six per cent to £2.3bn ($2.8bn).
Group 1 Automotive operates BMW, Mercedes, Audi, VW, Seat, Skoda, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Toyota and Ford franchises as well as a handful of used car centres in the UK.
New vehicle retail sales at its UK dealerships grew in the year ending December 31, 2022 by 7.1 per cent, contributing £985.7m ($1.21bn), while used car retail sales were up 5.5 per cent to £927.2m ($1.14bn).
However, while the group’s UK dealerships reported a huge 44.7 per cent growth in profit for new car retail sales to £90.5m ($112m) last year, the opposite was true for used car retail sales in the UK – which declined by 12.4 per cent to £51.3m ($63.5m) in 2022.
In the final three months of the year, Group 1 Automotive revenue in the UK increased by 3.1 per cent to £528.8m ($654.8m) and profit grew slightly (up 0.6 per cent) to £75.6m ($93.6m).
UK used vehicle sales dropped by 10.1 per cent for the final three months year on year to £190.6m ($235.5m), while used vehicle profit per unit continued to fall in the period, from £1,967 ($2,431) in the final three months of 2021 to £1,231 ($1,521) in the final three months of 2022.
- Our story on Group 1 Automotive’s third quarter results
- Our story on Group 1 Automotive’s 2021 annual results
New car retail sales grew by 19.9 per cent year on year, though, accounting for £255.6m ($316m).
Daryl Kenningham, Group 1’s president and CEO, said: ‘I am very proud of our team for their outstanding achievements this year. Together, we delivered record revenues, gross profit, and diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations.
‘We added incremental scale by acquiring close to $1bn of revenues and continued to return capital to our shareholders through share repurchases, buying back approximately 18 per cent of our outstanding common shares in 2022.
‘As the industry accelerates into new paradigms, that presents outstanding opportunities for Group 1 to demonstrate our leadership.
‘With our disciplined capital allocation and demonstrated operating excellence in critical areas of our business, we are very well positioned to take advantage of these changes in the future.’
To find out about other dealer groups’ latest EBITDA profit you can read the Car Dealer Top 100 full list here.
Image credit: Group 1 Farnborough BMW from Google Maps
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