8:19 am, December 15, 2022
Bosses at Hendy say the dealer group achieved ‘a great result in turbulent market conditions’ after the firm announced hugely improved profits for 2021.
Accounts published via Companies House show that the dealer enjoyed a fruitful 12 months to the end of December 2021, with revenues rising across the board.
The documents revealed that the Hampshire-based outfit brought in turnover of £931.8m, as opposed to £732.77m in the Covid-hit 2020.
Of that improved income, £836.68m was generated from vehicles with aftersales bringing in a further £95.11m.
The additional revenue helped fuel a massive 1,480 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £17.56m compared to 2020’s £1.11m.
Last year, Hendy was one of the few dealer groups to report reduced profits as outfits benefitted from the boom in used car prices, despite the pandemic hitting numbers.
This year however represents a spectacular return to form for the Car Dealer Top 100 firm.
Despite the early days of 2021 being dominated by national lockdowns, which forced showrooms to close, Hendy was able to wind down its reliance on the Furlough scheme.
It claimed a total of £1.9m from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, compared to £10.14m in 2020, and a further 935,000 from other government grants.
Reacting to the results, director Jonathan Moritz said: ‘The 2021 profit before tax was a great result achieved in turbulent market conditions caused by the COVID 19 pandemic.
‘This result was achieved despite our sales showrooms being closed down under the Covid-19 lockdown rules for the first 100 days of the year.
‘The initial key focus for 2021 was the online vehicle sales capability of the company as normal showroom sales were not possible in this period.
‘The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was used to protect jobs and the company managed to keep first quarter losses at a low level.
‘Once trading activity returned to normal, the key aims became to deliver a year of very strong profitability. This aim was successfully achieved.
‘The company achieved around 60 per cent of its normal sales volumes in the first quarter of the year with its showrooms closed and delivered its most profitable year ever.
‘The business continued to reshape its portfolio of the business with the disposal of its Suzuki haven’t dealership on March 19, 2019. There are no plans to alter the existing operations of the company.’
As well as vastly improved profits, the accounts show Hendy also enjoyed an increased gross profit margin of 12.9 per cent and a return on sales of 1.9 per cent.
The firm paid staff costs totalling just over £64m with its highest paid director receiving £996,000.
