7:13 am, February 10, 2022
The UK’s second most profitable car dealer group Sytner has played a large part in its American parent company’s record 2021 results.
Penske Automotive Group yesterday announced profit was up last year by a whopping 127 per cent to £1.182bn ($1.6bn).
The automotive juggernaut said its results for the fourth quarter and the year were company ‘records’.
Chair and CEO Roger Penske said: ‘During the fourth quarter, our diversified business and strong execution by our team produced record revenue, earnings before taxes, net income, and earnings per share.
‘For the year, I am pleased to report all-time record profitability including a 127 per cent increase in earnings before taxes to over $1.6bn.’
Total revenue for the group was up 250 per cent to an all-time high of £18.9bn ($25.6bn) in 2021 from $20.4bn in 2020.
Penske owns Sytner in the UK and the Carshop used car supermarket.
The UK group delivered 30 per cent of the group’s overall revenue. Its profit contribution is not released.
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Penske said overall retail automotive sales rose 11.7 per cent and said it made a gross margin on 17.4 per cent.
The Carshop brand has been rolled out across the Penske’s used operations and the firm says it now operates 23 centres, 15 of which are in the UK.
Penske is targeting 150,000 car sales via the used sites by the end of 2023.
The group said: ‘For the 12 months ended December 31, retail unit sales increased by 19.2 per cent to 63,403 while revenue increased by 43.2 per cent to $1.5bn, including 30.9 per cent on a same-store basis.’
During a call with investors, Roger Penske revealed that during the fourth quarter the group’s UK operations had sold 3,000 vehicles purely online.
Asked how the group can continue the growth into 2022, he said: ‘One thing that is good news is, we’re seeing a spring back in the UK, because remember, they were shutdown between January 1 and the middle of April last year.
‘So we’re going to see some benefit out of that when we look at it.
‘So I think the order book, when we look at it for March, which is the registration month is up about 25 per cent from last year. So that should give us some good runway here in Q1.’
Sytner was named the second most profitable car dealer in our Car Dealer Top 100 list.
In 2020, the group made EBITDA profit of £177.5m.
