11:15 am, December 4, 2020
Porsche Retail Group saw its pre-tax profit soar by 27.2 per cent to £10.251m last year.
Its report and financial statements for the year to December 31, 2019, just filed with Companies House, also show that revenue for the wholly owned subsidiary of Porsche Cars Great Britain rose by 7.2 per cent to £325.991m.
New and used car sales went up by 10.9 per cent, with 4,053 cars being sold during the year. The company said that was mainly down to the increase in new car sales of 337 vehicles.
The average monthly number of employees dipped by three to 291.
Porsche Retail Group has five Porsche Centres in Guildford, Hatfield, Mayfair, Chiswick and Reading, pictured.
Managing director Adam Flint said in the document that the group had continued to steadily improve its financial performance as it benefited from more new and used cars needing services and repairs.
Regarding this year’s pandemic and the reopening of showrooms after the first lockdown, he commented that initial trading signs were positive, with workshops fully booked and demand for new and used cars ‘very positive’.
He said that while the early signs were positive, the board fully understood the impact of Covid-19 on profitability ‘during lockdown and that the virus may continue to affect the profitability over the remainder of 2020 and into 2021’.
But Flint added: ‘Despite the factors that are outside the control of the board, there is confidence that the company will be profitable by the end of 2020.’
And on the subject of Brexit, he said its short-term impact was ‘difficult to quantify, particularly if there is a hard Brexit’.
If tariffs are imposed, that could mean a reduction in demand next year, Flint warned, and if there are lower sales because of changes to the economy that will mean fewer vehicles being allocated. As such, ‘overheads will be reviewed to help mitigate some of the impact from any reduction in profitability’.
However, he said the business was prepared for a no deal and the possible effect, and it was believed by the directors that it will stay profitable in the long term.
- Coming soon: The Car Dealer Top 100
- Register as a Car Dealer member and get more out of the website here
- Car Dealer Mag issue 153 is out now – Read it here
- Join our breaking news WhatsApp group – Click here to join now
