8:03 am, April 28, 2022
Inchcape has seen a strong start to the year and it’s now predicting a profit before tax for 2022 to be 25 per cent ahead of last year at £300m.
It announced that revenue was up 13 per cent to £1.8bn for Q1 and reports that it expects profit to grow by a quarter mainly due to strengthening distribution.
The group released its first quarter update this morning where it also updated on its exit from Russian. The sale of this part of the business will earn it £63m to be paid in instalments over five years and will be reinvested in the group.
Inchcape added that it expects to see the trends of last year continue through 2022, including demand exceeding supply and high margins.
It said that it expects these trends to continue for the rest of the year.
Group CEO Duncan Tait commented that new vehicle order books at Inchcape are at record levels across many markets.
He said: ‘Inchcape has made a great start to 2022, with both distribution and retail delivering strong revenue growth and margins.
‘Our performance was driven by a combination of robust consumer demand and price-mix tailwinds against the backdrop of continuing supply shortages.
‘This was evident in both new and used vehicles, while our aftermarket business also performed well. New vehicle order books across many of our markets continue to be at record levels.’
Tait added: ‘We are continuing to make great progress to deliver our Accelerate strategy by extending our leadership in automotive distribution, adding new distribution markets and OEMs through acquisitions and contract-wins, further developing our digital and analytics capabilities, and capturing more of a vehicle’s lifecycle value.
‘Inchcape has a really exciting future and is well-positioned to deliver sustainable long-term value for all our stakeholders through organic growth, market consolidation and cash generation.’
