4:46 pm, May 26, 2022
Sinclair Motor Holdings has reported the most profitable 12 months in the group’s history, with profit nearly triple its results pre-pandemic.
Sinclair’s revenue hit £544.3m in 2021, which was just shy of its turnover of £545.5m in 2019, but turnover rose to £12.6m compared £4.5m two years previous.
It explained in its accounts for the year ending December 31, 2021, published today (May 26), the struggles of 2020.
During the first year of the pandemic and lockdowns it saw turnover fall by more than £100m compared to the year before and profit dropped to £2m.
Directors said that the ‘ongoing pandemic had seen our customers much happier to transact remotely with us, and use our online tools to satisfy the majority of their steps in their journey to purchasing a new car’.
They added: ‘This new remote sales journey enabled our group to maintain our budgeted volumes and profitably navigate through this lockdown period.’
In its report, Sinclair Motor Holdings directors also commented on the challenges due to semi-conductor shortages and supply issues for both new and used cars.
‘The supply of used vehicles is very much dependant on used car supply, and as a direct consequence the supply of used cars also became challenging,’ it reads.
‘All of our manufacturer partners were unable to produce the volumes they would typically achieve, resulting in vehicle shortages in all markets.
‘While this presented us with a short-term volume issue, the positive was that vehicle profitability was stronger than normal times due to the ongoing shortages of availability versus demand.
‘Across the whole group our income per unit more than compensated for the drop in volumes, resulting in continued monthly profits ahead of budgeted expectations.’
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