9:15 am, July 28, 2023
Group 1 Automotive has reported that profit within its UK operation grew to $207.1m (£162m) in the first half of 2023.
The Fortune 300 company has published its accounts for the first six months of the year, with figures painting a positive outlook for the future.
Overall, the firm’s UK and US businesses enjoyed revenues of $8.69bn (£6.8bn) – a year-on-year rise of 8.7 per cent. Global gross profit, meanwhile, rose 0.7 per cent to just over $1.5bn (£1.18bn).
The firm now has 203 dealerships globally and 75 locations in UK, comprising of BMW, Mercedes, Audi, VW, Seat, Skoda, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Toyota and Ford franchises, and used car centres.
Last year it was named the ninth-most profitable dealer group in the UK in the Car Dealer Top 100, with £36.1m of EBITDA profit for 2021.
In the first half of this year, its UK accounted for 19.9 per cent of all the firm’s global new car sales with 16,452 sold, generating a revenue of $659.1m (£515.3m) – up 9.8 per cent year-on-year.
When it came to used cars, the firm sold 26,665, bringing in $673.2m (£526.4m), which was a 0.4 per cent increase.
Overall, Group 1’s British operation saw revenues rise to $1.5bn (£1.17bn) in the first six months of the year, compared to $1.45bn in the same period last year.
UK profits also increased from $192.5m (£150.5m) last year to $207.1m (£162m) this time around. That was aided by a strong Q2 which saw British profits reach $101.5m (£79.3).
The figure represented a slight fall on Q1 when Group 1 Automotive’s UK profit in Q1 stood at £88.5m.
Reacting to the latest set of results, Daryl Kenningham, Group 1’s president and CEO, said: ‘We continue to see payoffs from our investments in aftersales in both the US and UK with another all-time record quarter.
‘In particular in the UK, our improved customer appointment scheduling combined with an approximate 10 per cent increase in technician headcount, created more shop capacity for our valued customers.’
Earlier this year it was revealed exclusively by Car Dealer that managing director Mark Bridgland had stepped down from his role leaving staff stunned.
To find out about other dealer groups’ latest EBITDA profit you can read the Car Dealer Top 100 full list here.
