8:47 am, October 17, 2024
BMW and Mini retailer William Morgan Group saw its profits tumble by more than 50% last year, following a hefty reduction in vehicle sales.
The Northampton-based dealer enjoyed a record-breaking year in 2022 but accounts recently published via Companies House show that the outfit did not manage to hit the highs in the 12 months to December 31, 2023.
The documents reveal that the Car Dealer Top 100 firm made a pre-tax profit of £2.71m – a 51.2% reduction on 2022’s £5.56m.
Turnover also fell by 8.3% from £245.72m in 2022 to £225.27m in 2023, despite the group hitting its sales targets, as set out by BMW.
The figures show that the group sold 5,939 vehicles in 2023 – a 17.6% reduction on the previous year’s 7,211, which was itself down on the 7,280 sold in 2021.
Despite the struggles, William Morgan’s gross profit margin did improve slightly to 11.6% on the back of ‘improved margin retention in new vehicle sales and aftersales’.
Meanwhile, the group ended the year with net assets totalling £15.24m.
In response to the results, bosses insisted they were ‘pleased’ with ‘another robust year of trading’ for the outfit.
Director Christian Le Fevre said: ‘The Directors are pleased to report another robust year of trading ni 2023, although profit was below the prior year’s performance; which was a record year for the group.
‘Turnover reduced year on year by 8.3% from £245.7m to £225.3m. This was mainly due to a decrease in sales of used BMW, Mini and Motorrad units.
‘The group did successfully achieved al sales objectives set by BMW (UK), securing al volume related bonuses on BMW, Mini & Motorrad sales.’
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He added: ‘The directors consider the principal risk facing the business to be economic uncertainty as the performance of the business is linked to the macro economic state of the UK economy.
‘This has been a particularly challenging time due to the inflationary pressures that the economy is facing and rising interest rates, both contributing to a reduction in consumers’ disposable income.
‘The directors are confident that the business is well funded and sufficiently capitalised to continue thriving in the event of an economic downturn.’
The accounts also reveal that the vast majority of William Morgan Group’s reduced turnover (£208.86m) came from the sale of goods, namely new and used vehicles.
Elsewhere, the rendering of services brought in £13.75m and commissions raised a further £2.65m.
Throughout the year, the group spent an increased £14.51m on wages and salaries (2022: £13.27m), despite staff numbers falling from an average of 335 to 331.
The highest paid director received remuneration of £322,562 – a pay rise of just under £10,000 compared to 2022, when they received £302,820.
