11:30 am, September 26, 2022
Pre-tax profit at BMW and Mini specialist Williams Motor Co rocketed by 151.7 per cent last year to a record £15.1m.
Its accounts just published for the year ended December 31, 2021 show the profit figure soared from £6m the year before, driven mainly by used volumes and margin.
Turnover rose from £431m to £505.4m – an increase of 17.3 per cent – despite fewer new cars being available because of the semiconductor shortage.
EBITDA, meanwhile, increased by 64.3 per cent from £11.2m to £18.4m.
Operating profit rose by 96.4 per cent from £8.3m to £16.3m, while gross profit was up by 36.5 per cent from £41.1m to £56.5m.
However, the average number of employees fell by 8.4 per cent from 813 to 745 as Williams restructured.
The Car Dealer Top 100 Bolton-headquartered group received £569,000 under the furlough scheme during the year, as opposed to £5.321m in 2020.
Managing director Guy Adams said in the accompanying report: ‘Pent-up demand combined with increased consumer confidence and restricted new car supply pushed customers towards purchasing a used car if they were unwilling to wait for a new car given the extended lead times.
‘As a result, the new vehicle margin improved due to the restricted supply, whilst used vehicles strongly increased both margins and volume due to higher customer demand.’
He told how 2021 began with a third national lockdown, but despite the challenges caused by the restrictions and supply chain issues ‘vehicle sales and aftersales performances delivered a positive result, mitigating these headwinds’.
Adams added: ‘We are thankful for the effort and support of our management team and staff during this challenging period, who once again demonstrated their commitment to the business.’
Aftersales saw strong growth, with an 11.9 per cent increase in service sold hours.
‘Evidently, 2020 was a Covid-ravaged year,’ said Adams, ‘therefore the year on-year comparisons are distorted, but clearly the changes we made to restructure our cost base during the latter part of that year underpinned a record profit during 2021.’
Looking ahead, despite the Ukraine war affecting the global supply chain and the possible impact on consumer confidence because of rising inflation, Adams said the overall outlook for 2022 was positive.
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