9:49 am, July 22, 2024
Supercar dealer Romans International saw its pre-tax profit tumble by more than half last year.
In its newly released accounts for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed as Romans International Group, the Banstead-based supercar outfit said it made £1.403m profit before tax – down 52% on the £2.913m the year before.
That was on turnover that fell from £117.4m to £102.7m – a drop of 13%. UK sales accounted for £93.6m of that figure, with the rest coming from overseas.
Gross profit – cited as a key performance indicator – went down by 26% from £7.22m to £5.34m.
However, in the accompanying strategic report, founder Paul Jaconelli said the results overall were ‘remarkable considering the unprecedented impact of government fiscal policies and the supply chain issues encountered worldwide’.
He also said that Romans was well placed at the end of 2023 to benefit from improving market conditions and the group was looking to expand its trading footprint so that it could cater for more stock.
The average monthly number of employees rose by three to 27 – all of them in administration.
No ordinary dividends were paid, and payment of a further dividend wasn’t recommended.
Romans International was established in 1994, with Jaconelli initially beginning trading from home.
The first showroom was opened three years later in Epsom, but after outgrowing it, Romans moved to its Banstead site in 2003, which was a former Mazda dealership.
Jaconelli is its chairman, with son Tom as its director, who was featured in the first of our Selling Supercars video series in November 2022 – you can watch the episode at the top of this story.
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