8:09 am, May 13, 2026
Vertu Motors has said the government’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate is continuing to distort the new car market after it posted a strong rise in revenue, used car and aftersales performance, but saw a slip in annual profits.
Results for the ended February 28, 2026, published today (May 13) show the 191-outlet-strong PLC recorded a 1.5% rise in revenue over the past 12 months to £4.83bn.
However, reported profit before tax (PBT) tumbled from £24.8m to £20.3m, while adjusted PBT tax fell from £29.3m to £24.5m. Profit after tax came to £14.6m, down from the £18.1m achieved the year before.
The annual report said the adjusted PBT was ahead of expectations, and reflected ‘weak new vehicle retail conditions and margin pressure’, and along with a hit on revenues from the JLR cyber attack.
The listed dealer group sold 195,600 cars during the year, a 3.2% rise, while used car sales jumped by 2,7% to 91,287. New retail cars came to 37,820 (+5.7%), fleet cars 33,420 (+17.1%), and the business old 16,172 commercial vehicles, representing a 2.9% drop.
The dealer group said aftersales operations continued to underpin profitability, generating more than 46% of total group gross profit.
Aftersales revenue came to £434.1m, representing a gross profit of £250.2m – up from £236.1m of the year before – while used car gross profit edged up to £132.6m.
However, new vehicle gross profit fell from £110.2m to £105m, while fleet and commercial vehicle gross profit dropped from £55.7m to £52.2m amid falling margins and ongoing EV-related disruption.
Despite the slip in profits, the business strengthened its balance sheet, lowering net debt from £66.6m to £61.3m and generating £30.7m in free cash flow. It also maintained its annual dividend at 2.05p per share and spent £10.6m on share buybacks during the year.
During the year, Vertu increased franchise with Chinese carmakers BYD and Geely, with the annual report stating that it intends to expand further with Leapmotor, Chery, Omoda and Jaecoo, and Lepas in the future.
It also opened a Nissan sales operation in its MotorNation site in
Tamworth, a Skoda franchise in Nottingham, and acquired the trade and assets of Leicester Skoda from Marshall Motor Company at a cost of £0.6m. Vertu also bought Edinburgh-based The Union Motor Company, an authorised repairer for London Electric Vehicle Company.
Business closures comprised a Honda motorbike dealership in Nottingham, a Honda site in Bradford, a Peugeot site in Launceston, and Volvo and Peugeot dealerships in Barnstable. Vertu also sold its Honda dealership in Huddersfield to Riverside Motors.
The year also saw the dealer group launching a new initiative called ‘Value Cars by Vertu’, targeting the growing seven-to-14-year-old used car market.
Chief executive Robert Forrester said: ‘The group has delivered solid results against the backdrop of sector pressures from the government’s ZEV mandate on new car profitability, as we have focused on controlling the controllables, such as aftersales and cost.’
Total non-underlying costs came to £4.2m, which included £1.9m redundancy costs, £1.1m dealership closure costs, £1.4m impairment charges, £0.7m property remediation provision. This was offset by £0.9m gains from property and business disposals.
Vertu also repeated the cost of the JLR cyber attack, as revealed last month, which came to around £3.9m in lost profit, although £3.4m was recovered through insurance. The attack also resulted in a £1.7m loss of gross profit in the used car department in Vertu’s JLR dealerships.
In its annual report, Vertu also referenced the Financial Conduct Authority’s motor finance redress scheme, saying that it does not ‘currently consider that provisions are required to be made in respect off any exposures in this area’.
Vertu also stated that there is a risk that the motor finance market will contract in the future, potentially leading to increased costs to customers and reduce its income as a credit broker in the future.
The dealer group again urged the government to bring forward its planned review of the ZEV mandate from 2027 to 2026, warning that the current targets are placing ‘unsustainable’ pressure on the industry.
Forrester added: ‘The ZEV mandate is distorting volumes, margins and channel mix for new car and commercial vehicles, alongside elevated discounting and potential non-BEV supply constraints.’
Vertu said trading in March and April had begun strongly, with profits ahead of the same period last year.
