11:01 am, August 7, 2023
Directors at Holdcroft Motor Group have signed off 2022 as an ‘impressive year’ after turnover surged by nearly £200m.
Accounts for the 57-year-old family-run company, filed under TG Holdcroft (Holdings), show turnover soared from £476.9m to £659.9m in the year ended December 31, 2022, buoyed by strong new car orders.
Pre-tax profit dipped from £10.8m in 2021 to £10.2m, although directors said they felt that 2022 stood ‘above’ 2021’s performance as that year was helped by Covid-19 financial support.
New car retail sales rose by more than 26 per cent to 7,757 cars and corporate sales jumped by nearly 59 per cent to 9,209.
The company admitted not all of its franchises performed well due to ‘sporadic supply’.
Its Hyundai division saw retail new car sales up 21 per cent and its Renault business – which includes Dacia and Alpine – was buoyed by new additional showrooms in Wolverhampton and Solihull.
However, Holdcroft’s Nissan and Honda franchises saw new car retail sales fall by 15 and 10 per cent respectively. The latter brand was also affected ‘dramatically’ by difficulties in sourcing used cars.
Used car sales across the company dipped by 2.5 per cent to 9,157 because of problems sourcing quality stock.
The business said it had ‘stayed true to our values with regard to stocking policy so overage inventory does not become a proposition that contaminates our financial performance’.
During the year, Holdcroft was targeted by hackers in a major cyber attack, leaving its core systems damaged beyond repair.
In November 2022, Cameron Love, a used car sales controller from Holdcroft Nissan in Crewe, was given the Outstanding Achievement trophy at the Car Dealer Used Car Awards.
He was awarded the accolade for performing life-saving assistance to a customer who suffered a cardiac arrest in the dealership.
In the end-of-year statement, directors said: ‘When reflecting on the financial performance of 2022 we believed the outcome stands above that of 2021, especially when taking into consideration the absence of the financial supports given by local and central governments during both 2020 and 2021.
‘The increased overheads of the organisation, due in large part to excessive inflation, has had a detrimental effect on the 2022 results, employment costs and energy being the worst affected areas.’
