7:51 am, June 25, 2025
Used car sales and Motability fleet deals have dropped in the first three months of this year for car dealer group Vertu.
The listed group has updated the market ahead of its AGM today with a Trading Update that reveals Motability sales were down 23.2% and used car sales dropped 3.8% in the first three months of its new financial year.
Vertu said the used car drop was down to ‘tight supply’ and ‘subdued consumer demand’.
However, the group – which has 197 sales and servicing outlets across the UK – said like-for-like new car sales were up an impressive 7%.
Vertu ‘outperformed’ the UK new car market which grew 5.6% in the same three month period.
And there was more good news from its after sales departments with its ‘high margin service revenues’ up 4.1% compared to the same period last year.
Fleet and commercial vehicle sales also grew 3%.
All this means the car dealer group saw adjusted profit before tax for the period to be ‘ahead’ of prior year levels. No details on the numbers were given.
In May, Vertu revealed profit for last year had fallen 15.8% to £29.3m on revenues of £4.8bn.
Vertu said it was ‘encouraged’ by the start to its 2026 financial year and in particular the growth of new car retail sales in March.
In the Trading Update, the firm added: ‘The board remains cautious in respect of the consumer outlook and continued pressure in the new car market from the Government’s Zero Emission Mandate promoting electric vehicle adoption.
‘The full year result is expected to be in line with current market expectations.’
Robert Forrester, Vertu CEO, added: ‘Since the beginning of the financial year, a period which includes the important trading month of March, the group has traded well in a challenging macroeconomic environment.
‘New retail volumes are up materially with the group benefiting from market share gains, and our high margin aftersales business continues its out-performance.
‘This encouraging start to the year is balanced by ongoing headwinds of a challenging consumer and business environment and the government’s ZEV mandate promoting accelerated electric car adoption.’
