9:07 am, April 9, 2025
Mercedes-Benz Retail Group has sold off its remaining dealerships and ceased trading following years of downsizing and heavy losses.
That is according to the group’s annual accounts, which say that the group has been settling its debts with a view to moving to a ‘dormant’ status.
The documents, filed via Companies House, say that the Mercedes-owned outfit has ‘disposed of its remaining leasehold premises’ and ‘recovered its remaining trade and other receivables’ with directors not expecting any further trading activity.
Mercedes has been planning to divest of the the group since 2021 and has spent the years since selling sites and decreasing the size of the operation.
It comes after years of huge pre tax losses, including hits of £35m in 2019 and £20.9m in 2020
Despite losses getting lower in the years since, the firm has continued to struggle, with the latest accounts, for 2023, showing a pre-tax loss of £3.66m.
Confirming the move to make the group dormant, director Wolfgang Pipperger said: ‘During the period, the company sold its remaining dealerships at which point the company ceased to trade.
‘After the reporting date, the company disposed of its remaining leasehold premises, recovered its remaining trade and other receivables and settled any outstanding trade and other payables with a view to move the company into a dormant status.
‘The directors do not expect any further future trading activity within the company.’
Despite the comments, no official filing has been made to Companies House confirming that the group is no longer trading, although 2024’s accounts are currently overdue.
In the accounts which have now been published, it is revealed that Mercedes-Benz Retail Group turned over £605.62m in revenue in the 15 months to the end of March 2023.
The figure was down on the previous year’s result of £742.52m, despite the longer accounting period, with bosses putting the slide down to its ‘reduced number of car dealerships’.
The downsize was also reflected in the size of the firm’s workforce which dropped from an average of 1,325 to 781. Meanwhile, staffing costs were also reduced at £46.7m compared to £60m in the previous accounting period.
Despite the heavy losses and shrinking numbers, one figure which did increase was directors’ remunerations, which more than doubled from £349,000 to £715,000.
Car Dealer has approached Mercedes-Benz for comment.
