Marshall results outperform market – Auto Retail Agenda
Underlying profits at Marshall Motor Holdings dropped just 5.4% in 2020 to £20.9 million, while like-for-like revenue dropped 13.5% to £1.87 billion. Including recent acquisitions, Marshall reported a rise in profit before tax of 3.7% to £20.4m last year against £19.6m in 2019. Reported turnover was down 5.3% to 2.15bn.
Highlighting the level of government support during the lockdowns and the pandemic Daksh Gupta, chief executive, said: “Through a combination of support received from both the Government and our business partners, a number of one-off sector tailwinds and our continued and significant outperformance of the wider market, we are pleased to report an underlying profit before tax for the Year of £20.9m. Our financial position also remains strong, with adjusted net cash at 31 December 2020 of £28.8m.” [...]
Lookers appoints former Toyota MD Paul Van der Burgh as a non-exec director – AM Online
Lookers PLC has appointed former Toyota GB president and managing director Paul Van der Burgh as a non-exec director. In a statement issued via the London Stock Exchange this morning (March 8), Lookers chairman Phil White, said: "We are absolutely delighted that Paul will be joining the Lookers Board next month. His track record at both Toyota and Ford speaks for itself [...].
Mazda UK to ‘capture back’ 50% of missed March new car sales in Q2 – AM Online
Mazda UK managing director Jeremy Thomson has told AM that the brand plans to “capture back” 50% of March sales lost to COVID-19 ‘Lockdown 3’ showroom closures in April, May and June. Thomson, who had previously told AM that he hoped to see a “long tail of recovery” after England’s car dealerships re-open their doors to customers on April 12 said that the Japanese brand and its retailers have reasons to be upbeat.
He said that pent-up demand, the new UK/Japan trade deal and the launch of an important new model in the form of Mazda’s first electric vehicle (EV) – the MX-30 – this month, should all help boost its fortunes. [...]
Lockdown showroom closures fuel 30% decline in 21-plate new car orders – AM Online
New data from Cox Automotive shows orders for new ‘21’ number plate cars in March, usually the industry’s best performing car sales month of the year, were down by as much as 30%.
Analysis of auction sales during the three national lockdowns shows both new and used car sales in the UK have fallen below expectations during the second and third lockdowns. Cox’s research also highlighted that click-and-collect schemes, aimed to improve car sales during the pandemic, are not working well enough to make up the sales shortfall.
According to Cox, January 2021 saw new and used vehicle days in stock increase, coinciding with the lower sales figures during the third lockdown. Franchised dealers reported 48.9 average days in stock, compared to 42.4 the previous year. [...]
Latest figures from the ONS show a continued rise in traffic levels over the 7 days to Monday 8 March. Car traffic hit 70% of pre-covid levels on Monday as the school children went back to school. Car traffic hit a high of 93% of pre-covid levels on Monday and HGV traffic hit 10% on Monday. [...]
